The Prometheus Encounter
by Tangerine-Alert
Summary: HP/UNIT/SG1 crossover. Testing an Ancient hyperdrive flings the Prometheus and SG1 into another universe where Harry Potter, Night Wolf and magic greet them.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: All characters, names, settings etc belong to their respective copyright holders, only Night Wolf and a few other things are of my own creation (but inspired from many things under copyright, which aren't mine).

_This is a sequel to a number of stories that began with __UNIT: Night Wolf – Beginnings (__or alternatively __Sorcery, UNITed, Independence, Space__). But this is a more direct sequel in the 'Encounters' stories; __The Intelligence Encounter __and __The Doctor Encounter. _

_While it is a sequel you don't quite need to have read any of the previous though reading with __UNIT: Night Wolf – Beginnings __will give background and context._

_This is also a crossover with Stargate SG1 and for SG1 occurs somewhere after Season 8 (but before Season 9)._

**Chapter 01**

"Welcome aboard General, Doctor Jackson, Teal'c."

"Nice to be here Colonel, Carter got it all fixed now?" Jack asked stepping away from the ring platform, somehow using a 2000 year old Go'auld ring platform they left behind on a moon so far away from anything didn't feel right, despite Daniel assuring it was 'fine' and Teal'c nodding.

"Lt Col Carter's just finishing off the 'final connections'." Colonel Lionel Pendergast answered the General.

Jack shook himself. "You're sure that thing didn't leave any of us behind?" He said as they walked through the corridors of the ship towards the engineering deck.

"No O'Neill. The ring platform functioned correctly, it was certified by Doctor Felger more than 6 months ago."

"Jack they're safe." Jack looked at Daniel. "It won't turn us inside out, have the rings ever done that?"

Jack frowned. "No, but I wouldn't put it past the snake heads to sabotage them, just to piss us off, hello Carter." He said as they walked into the room that over looked the engines.

"Been doin' some redecorating Carter? So much for 'better than new' it looks like your lab, with less concrete." Jack said looking around, all the pristine computer banks had wires and crystals exposed, all leading to the ancient device in the middle of the room. That in itself had cables which no doubt lead to the bridge where a control chair lay.

"We should be just about ready sir, sirs…" Carter said as she rose from behind a bank of controls holding a crystal.

"Carter."

"General, Daniel, Teal'c, nice trip?"

Daniel rolled his eyes as Jack started to open his mouth. "Don't ask."

"So what does the do-hicky do?" Jack said as he played with the edges of a folder in front of him.

Lt Colonel Samantha Carter stared at her superior officer and then looked to Daniel, they'd all been at the briefing.

"You know be an briefings Carter."

She repressed a sigh.

The 'device' had been recovered along with the control chair from the ruins of the Ancient Outpost Toanas on the planed Proclarush. It had been uncovered in a 'sub-room' below the main chamber they'd discovered when they'd taken the ZPM.

It was from all their tests and simulations an extremely powerful and far reaching hyperspace acceleration drive.

With the SGC's assets spread out a whole galaxy away, even with the Asgard hyperdrives it still took an extensive amount of time for the Daedalus to reach Atlantis.

"So we're testing an Ancient hyperdrive, sweet."

"Essentially sir, but from our lab tests we need to be going, well, frankly flat out before it will engage, and it needs…" Carter trailed off searching for a word.

"A fine touch."

"And that's me Danny?"

"Yes, sir. We've interfaced the control chair and it should engage the 'ancient hyperdrive' once we've opened a hyperspace window."

"Why can't we use this to get to Pegasus, I'm sure Daniel would relish the chance to converse with the Wraith."

"That was proposed sir but…" Carter pointed to a screen behind her, it showed the great vastness between galaxies.

"Should the drive malfunction." She caught a look from General O'Neill "Which is probably unlikely, it was considered better by General Hammond that we drop out of hyperspace in our own galaxy than in between galaxies."

"Ah, that would be bad."

"_Col Carter, we've got green on all panels." _

Carter smiled. "Sir?"

"Oh, time for us to go, goody."

--//

_"Space," it says, "is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly hugely mindboggingly big it is. I mean you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space." _Harry closed the book and tried to drag himself out of bed. Adams had some odd ideas, though considering He, Capt Harry Potter Secondary Systems Coordinator officer aboard the ASCS _Hattah_ lived and worked aboard a space craft, everything in proportion.

Harry had suggested once that the trip though the transmat might be improved if they did have a couple of drinks inside them, though that particular suggestion had been met with…less than positive responses.

Mindbogglingly wasn't really a way to describe space, though really you could have a long, long discussion about space and how your were supposed to measure something like it.

Count the stars, count the planets, count how many of them you've been to.

Hermione and the rest of the xeno-archaeologists who left Earth would probably win that one Harry conceded as he gathered his shower items and made his way out of his quarters to the bathroom.

Harry stared in the mirror, black wings laying drooped and wet behind him as he shaved, looking at the scars he'd acquired, not just from his unusual education, but from life in general, aliens trying to kill him, buildings determined to bury him alive and a particularly vindictive Dalek science attack force that decided the best way to find out how he worked was to try opening him using sharp tools quite slowly. _They_ were supposedly more insane than your run of the mill Daleks according to the analysis of the remains that followed.

"Admiring yourself in the mirror again Potter?"

"Playing with your hair again Flighty?" Harry asked lightly to Flight Lieutenant Tyson Ardin as Harry watched him drag a hand through a foppish head of brown/blond hair.

"Maybe, you can talk." He flicked Harry's wings which were slowly drying in the air.

Harry just glared at him.

"So any ideas when we're going to be leaving orbit for something interesting?"

"I don't point the ship's direction."

The Flight Lieutenant looked at him in the mirror.

Harry glared back with a mouth full of toothpaste.

"Fine." Harry said as he spat it out. "The Colonel said that we'd be out of this within the day most of the junk's been cleaned up, plus he pushed the fact that we've been helping the _Wolfsburg _fix their sensors."

"Still, she's a fun beast to fly along."

The UNSCS (United Nations Space Core Ship) _Wolfsburg _was the longest ship constructed so far, at just over 1200 meters with three rotating sections to give it gravity and the ability to carry several of the pylons that made up a jumpgate it was big and long. It was also the only UN space craft, crewed in a joint sense by all the nations aware of it.

It was also they'd discovered a bit harder building something roughtly 3 times the length of the current space craft and making sure everything worked all of the time.

It weapons worked, as did its engines, and all the secondary and ancillary systems, the sensors worked most of the time, but needed to be re-calibrated occasionally.

Harry had the mind that it was all the scientists on board forever making changes to it.

Harry arrived at the bridge in a good mood, sans wings, it wasn't so comfortable to sit at his station with wings protruding for hours on end.

"Harry."

"Captain, morning." Harry said to Lt Colonel Chris Rogers.

--//

"All hands this is Pendergast, prepare to enter hyperspace and device activation."

"Ok." Carter muttered to herself. "Engaging hyperspace window generators…" The _Prometheus _leapt into the hyperspace window and began its journey towards Earth.

"Any time now sir." Carter said looking back at the rear of the bridge where General O'Neill was sitting in the control chair, Teal'c watching him a short distance away.

"So I just think a big 'On button' and it should all activate, oh and fastness that will help."

"Just the mental activation and the control over that activation to bring it on gently Jack, I don't want to over shoot Earth and end up in another galaxy." Daniel said from across the bridge.

"Gently does it, right…now…"

Carter stared with wide eyed amazement. "Oh my…it's amazing…we've increased speed…10…20, 30 fold…"

"Colonel Carter?" Pendergast eyed the view out of the window.

"It's amazing the additional Naquadah generators are barely even registering a draw. Sir?" Pendergast nodded to Carter. "General, if you can bring it up further."

"Right Carter, bring up the imaginatory lever, up the imaginatory level on the not quite real button, all of this in my head right?"

The noise, the pitch of the ship rose as the Prometheus increased in speed again.

"At this speed we should be back at Earth in minutes, it's amazing, everything is well within the green and…"

At that point the _Prometheus_ did something that Lt Col Carter would have attested was totally impossible, the Asgard probably would have agreed with her, though they might have widened their eyes slightly at the idea.

The Prometheus, while travelling using its adapted and advanced hyperspace window generators seemingly flipped over twice within the vortex within which it was travelling.

On board the most of the connections used to splice the Ancient device into the Prometheus' systems exploded and shorted out.

General Jack O'Neill who thought he was getting the hang of doing whatever it was he was doing was flung out of said chair as Prometheus began its flip, right into Teal'c, which was fortunate considering the amount of power that shorted through the chair turning parts of it into literal slag.

The _Prometheus _crashed out of a hyperspace window in Earth's solar system 'relatively' close to Mars.

--//

Harry stared at the sensor analysis that had been pushed up to them, they were receiving some odd readings just outside of Mars' orbit.

"Sir, sensor analysis pushed this up, they were running some long range scan tests." Harry said as the information appeared on the forward screens, changing them from their forward views of the moon.

Rogers turned to his left. "Foster inform UNSCS _Wolfburg_ we're moving out to investigate something." Then he muttered to himself. "They should still be busy with their sensor glitches."

They were half way there when a something appeared on sensors, the something was a mass, emitting energy.

"Sir." Harry said. The captain stared at the readings.

"Have battle analysis on standby, sensor analysis full work up."

"Battle analysis are always standing by sir." Harry commented, Chris Rogers chuckled.

As they approached the area of the disturbance and the energy mass it came into clearer focus.

"Sir, it's a ship."

"Lets have a look." The left hand screen changed to show the ship, it was…small and bulky. With two 'shoulder' areas at the rear, several what looked like radio masts and other odd protuberances.

"Are they windows?" The captain asked curiously.

"Sensor analysis is still running scans, it's got a huge energy signature, they're readjusting their readings to find its base line."

"Diplomacy and linguistics rustle up a standard language and numbers greeting pack."

"Do you want to send an opener Colonel or just the standard?" Harry asked relaying the question, adlibbing the actual request that they always seemed to send up in these situations even with the Daleks, at least they had a chat…most of the time, actually some of them were down right not chatty, but that was the Daleks for you.

"I'll do it." He said leaning back and touching a control on the 'periscope' that slid from the ceiling. "This is Lt Colonel Chris Rogers of the UNIT Vessel ASCS _Hattah_, to vessel in an…" he paused looking at the readings. "Erratic orbit close to the fourth planet from this system's star. Please respond." He turned around nodded to Harry.

"Linguistics have sent it, awaiting reply." He said after a moment. "At least they're not shooting at us, always a good thing."

"Unless they're plotting how to take us down." Lucas Varner, the weapons officer commented.

"Battle analysis got anything on its weapons systems?"

"They're wrangling in other sections, because the ship's got some odd designs."

"Aside from the radio dishes and windows?" Rogers replied.

"Yes…there appears to be missile tubes on the deck, and some form of weapons on the side of the ship, it's energy washout is affecting detailed scans."

"No response?"

"Not yet." Harry said, he didn't mention that it was only a few minutes, they'd sat waiting trying to talk to a ship for a few hours once, turned out the ship was just passing through gathering interstellar dust for its ramscoop, and wanted someone to talk to while it worked. It took them the better part of 2 days to work that out.

"Begin prep on Thylacines, just in case."

"Sir." Harry responded, despite the fact he hadn't actually done anything until the Colonel Rogers told him he knew they'd already be ready, alien craft, sitting near them, why wouldn't they be ready? They weren't shooting at them, _yet._

--//

"Whatever it was I didn't did do it."

"I…" Carter coughed away the smoke on the bridge.

"Carter, report?" Pendergast barked.

"Nothing critically damaged, we've lost some secondary systems, ring and Asgard transporters are down, some of the missile launch controls are down…I don't think the General did anything to cause this either."

"Thanks Carter."

"Where are we?"

"Near Mars I think." Daniel said, he had extracted himself from the station he was working at and looking out the forward window, _Prometheus_ was still in a gentle roll as he looked out the window the stars rolled around.

"Wait…there" As they rolled around a red coloured planet came into view. "There." Then he retook his seat at his console.

"So we made it? Cool, Carter's gizmo worked."

"Restarting main systems now…" All the lights flickered and the pitch of the noise in the ship changed _Prometheus _stopped rolling and righted itself, as the sensors came online and communications became active two things became abundantly clear.

"I don't think we're in Kansas any longer Toto." Was Jack's contribution as he leaned over Carter's console.

"We're getting a signal from…" He trailed off.

"The ship Doctor Jackson."

"Not just a signal, we're getting data from it as well." Carter said as she brought it up.

"Yeah that's what I thought, what'd you think Sam?"

"It's…it's a basic language and number set….it's a simplified first contact package."

"A what, what what?"

"We've got one, in case we ever meet anyone who we can't communicate with, it sets out a basic set of numbers and letters that should allow two species to communicate and build a translation system." Carter explained to the General and Colonel Pendergast.

"Doctor Jackson what about the communication?"

"Uh…right…" He said touching a few controls.

The screen flickered with static.

"Ummm Sam?" Daniel looked across the bridge vaguely.

"Right, adjusting frequencies…"

The screen flicked once more and resolved itself. It showed a man in probably his mid 30s, wearing dark green BDUs.

"_This is Lt Colonel Chris Rogers of the UNIT Vessel ASCS Hattah, to vessel in an….Erratic orbit close to the fourth planet from this system's star. Please respond_."

"Uh oh." Sam said as the message ened.

"Uh oh Carter? UNIT Vessel? ASCS? Hattah? I don't think 'Uh oh' is going to cover it."

"Got it, the ship is forwards of our position holding steady…" She trailed off staring at the readings.

"Lets see it and them." He said and turned to the left of the bridge to look at the larger display.

It was big, bigger than _Prometheus _at least, almost more non-descript, with two things at the front which might be weapons ports, though Jack thought they could be for making jam, though it was about as unlikely as this was just some wacky dream caused by too much cheese before bedtime.

"Uh oh indeed Colonel Carter." Teal'c rumbled.

"Maybe we should respond?"

"Great idea Danny. Colonel?" General O'Neill asked.

"Of course General. Doctor Jackson?"

"Right…Go ahead Jack."

"Right…this is General Jack O'Neill of the United States Airforce ship _Prometheus_. This might be a stupid question, but is Earth around here somewhere?" He smiled and nodded to Daniel.

--//

"Oh…" Harry muttered to himself as he stared at the 'postulations' coming from sensor analysis, it wasn't confirmation yet, but it was rising in the list of 'possibilities', and the statistics did appear to be stacking in its favour.

"Harry?"

"Sensor analysis continuing to analyse their readings, but there's a suggestion that the ship might be from an alternate universe."

"How much of a suggestion?"

"From the data at the moment, they've matched the energy fluctuation to the data we have on file there's a 40 percent match to several of the sample data we have of some form of alternate or parallel universal interaction."

"That's still low within the realms of it being just an in contact event."

"Yes sir…but…signal coming through, linguistics is re-modulating it…"

A man with greying hair appeared on the screen, he seemed to be standing to the side of the ship's bridge.

"_Right…this is General Jack O'Neill of the United States Air force ship Prometheus. This might be a stupid question, but is Earth around here somewhere?"_

"The US Air Force? I think we've just gone up from low to quite high Harry, unless we all blinked and the US got something bigger than a space shuttle."

"How are linguistics going with two way communications?"

"Working on it, they're requesting to test now with the _Prometheus _to get a carrier signal back from them."

"Tell them go ahead, the quicker we get this worked out."

"The quicker we can get back to staring at the _Wolfburg_?" Harry asked cynically.

"Harry Potter, such cynicism." The captain chuckled.

--//

Something beeped in front of Carter, it appeared to be a carrier frequency she put it on the larger screen, it read 'Carrier for two way communications stand-by'.

"Carter?"

"Wasn't me sir. It's the other ship, trying to get two way coms up."

"Obviously they do this thing a lot if they've got the systems in place to do it so easily."

"Clever Danny." Jack watched as the screens flickered and then resolved themselves.

"_General O'Neill."_

"Colonel Rogers…so…about the Earth."

"_Yes…that. We've got mounting evidence on our end that you might be from a parallel universe._" Rogers said simply.

--//

"…Might be from a parallel universe…" Rogers watched as O'Neill turned around to those behind him.

"_Just a second." _The picture went blank.

"Linguistics suggests a meet, as they're human and oxygen breathers…better to talk face to face, less mis-interpretations, better body language read…"

"Yes Harry I don't need to full 'meet and greet for beginners." The captain answered Harry back.

"They're back sir." Harry said casually used to the Captain's odd sense of humour.

"_Yeah, we've been through this before, maybe we can meet talk about it we…" _General O'Neill looked behind him, someone shook their head, Harry couldn't quite see who it was.

--//

Daniel watched as Jack re-contacted the people from the other ship.

"…maybe we can meet and talk about it?" He turned around from the screen, Daniel muted it for a second.

"Asgard transporters?" He asked in what might have passed for a whisper at a NASCAR race.

Sam shook her head. "Sorry sir, and even if the rings were operating I don't think they'd have the technology."

Jack turned back to the screen, Daniel de-activated the mute he'd put in place.

"_That sounds like an idea, we'll send a craft over to you, how many personnel will you be sending General?"_

"A team of four Colonel, give us a shout out when you're ready and we'll turn the porch lights on for ya." Jack turned around and nodded to Daniel.

"Come on Carter, lets get kitted out." Jack grinned at them.

--//

"…_and we'll turn the porch lights on for ya."_ The transmission ended on the General's smile.

"Ready the platypus. Then kit yourself Harry."

Harry nodded and then looked up from his station.

"Me sir?"

"You've got the cross training, plus you're good with contact and you were the one making light of staring at space craft." The captain smiled at him. Harry nodded, it did beat staring at the _Wolfburg. _

"Yes sir…"

"Get…Rhonda Munro, she can watch your back." Harry nodded sending the orders down to linguistics, Munro was part of the linguistics section, she had specialities in non-vocal identification and understanding, but also had training in the 'Platypus', amongst other things. She was also one of the linguistics or diplomacy people willing to leave the ship, many of them were happy staying inside the ship, not quite yet ready to risk themselves with the possibility of being captured, maybe tortured or at the least interrogated and the outside chance of actually chatting and talking without any of the above occurring.

Harry stood behind the bay door waiting for Munro to arrive and the platypus to be finished pre-flight prep.

The platypus wasn't its 'official' name, but that was the what everyone called it, unlike the Thylacines which were their official name. The platypus was 'officially' called…well just Shuttle Transport craft.

It looked like a long oblong shape, that had been married with the X shaped construction of the Thylacines. It could easily carry about 10 people, or could have the seating removed to carry cargo. Like the Thylacine it had omni-directional engines, though eight instead of the Thylacine's 4, it could fly into an atmosphere of a planet and extend landing struts to land on a surface. It could also achieve VTOL. Due to a UN mandate it didn't have weapons, it had 'defensive systems' and a highly protective hull, a specialised species of magical wood sub frame that extra to the manoeuvrability…but no weapons.

"Sorcerer Potter."

"Rhonda Munro, ready for potential danger?"

"From parallel universe airforce guys, can't wait." She grinned. Harry smiled and nodded at the screen outside the door that had just turned green.

Harry hitt the buttons on the controls and looked over them all as he pulled the straps on his chair, while the Playpus could create a gravity field via its engines for shorter trips that involved some degree of manoeuvring it wasn't practical to create the gravity field.

"Green, green and green." He hit the comms button. "Platypus 1 to _Hattah_, we're ready to head out."

"_Confirmed Platypus 1, you have communication protocols ready?"_

"That we do captain." Munro said with a smile beside Harry.

"Good, try not to get into trouble Harry, Rhonda. See you on the return."

Harry grabbed a hold of the controls and the craft left the bay deck and through the open doors.

--//

General Jack O'Neill, Doctor Daniel Jackson, Teal'c and Lt Col Samantha Carter were waiting on the bridge for the _Hattah's_ craft to be launched.

"Got something, there's a craft being launched heading out way."

"Lets see it Carter….That's…different." Jack managed as he looked at the image of the craft travelling toward them.

"It's nothing like we've seen before…we can probably rule out Goa'uld."

"It's sort of like a Bell Boien Osprey, only more engines…space engines." Jack said to himself…and the rest of the room.

"Or a Harrier jump jet, it looks like it uses those engines for all manoeuvring and power…the power systems for that…"

Jack looked to Daniel, but he was still watching the images.

"Come on lets head on down to the docking bay." He said quickly lest he let Carter get on one of her…technobabble wanderings.

"O'Neill." Teal'c said in an alerted manner.

--//

"What do you think? Their bridge?" Harry said looking through the 'window' which wasn't at the front of the platypus, it wasn't a window in the same way the clear stuff around the Thylacines wasn't glass.

The craft was sitting almost nose to nose with the _Prometheus. _

"Nice flying but do you think they might take this as a predatory act?" Munro asked curiously, with a hint of nervous.

"How many times have we tried to contact them?"

"Twice?"

Harry shrugged. "Try a third then comm. back to _Hattah _and get them to try."

--//

O'Neill spun on his heel and stared out the window at the front of the ship, the craft they were all so engaged in was looking at them through the window.

"Danny…they wouldn't be trying to contact us would they?" He asked casually.

"What?" Daniel turned around and saw where Jack was pointing.

"Oh…right."

Jack heard a quick conversation going on between Daniel and whoever was piloting the…craft.

"They're proceeding to the bay Jack."

"Come on Carter, lets head on down to the bay, you can quiz the guys in person."

--//

"Right, ok. Harry, middle section portside. They said there'll be 'lights on and everything'."

Harry raised and eyebrow and rolled the platypus away from the front of the _Prometheus_.

He immediately saw the bay they'd indicated, the doors were open…and he could see some people waiting there for him.

"Rhonda, check the scanners for energy readings." That was one other thing the platypus had a lot of, scanners, sensors and other detection equipment…_purely _as a safety measure of course.

"There's a low level reading of an energy barrier, it doesn't conform to any force field on record."

"It's a ship that _might_ be from an other universe."

"It's probably to keep in the atmosphere, there's gravity as well Potter."

"Ah fun…" Transitioning from zero gravity to somewhere that had gravity made manoeuvring that little bit extra complicated especially when it was an instantaneous sort of thing like space to space ship. The _Hattah's _forward bays that used for the platypus were at the forward sections of the ship where it was outside the gravity field of the engines with practically no gravity, aside form the designated walk spaces that had particular charms applied to them to negate the zero gravity in specific places. Though said charms only worked in with certain things, and therefore couldn't be applied to the whole ship…or that was how it had been explained to him when he'd asked.

Harry brought the platypus gently into the bay sideways edging it in and around.

"Deploy landing struts." He said as he looked at the screens as he countered the ship's gravity.

"Deployed…and down."

"Now…gently…."

--//

Jack looked at the craft from one side of the docking bay, it was…he didn't really know what.

"That's interesting."

"What Daniel?" Carter tore her eyes away from what could only be a human built craft for a moment and looked where Daniel indicated.

"That's the UN flag isn't it?" She said, though she was pretty sure it was. Not that the SGC really had much dealing with the UN.

"The captain of their ship did say 'UNIT'…wonder what the I and T mean."

"O'Neill, the craft is opening." The four of them walked around from where they were to see and greet them.

The rear of the craft hissing and opened revealing two people.

One was a man in his early 20s, dark hair and bright green eyes. The woman next to him was in her later 20s, possibly mid 30s, with ash blonde hair tied into a pony tail.

--//

Harry took in the team that he was to pick up, there was General O'Neill, whom he'd seen before, though due to the way they generally operated everyone on the bridge was framed out allowing the captain to speak with whomever he wanted.

"General O'Neill?"

"That's me." He smiled, a grin almost.

"Sorcerer Captain Harry Potter, Rhonda Munro Linguistics / Diplomacy."

--//

Jack could tell Daniel was mouthing the word Sorcerer, without even looking.

"General Jack O'Neill, Lt Colonel Samantha Carter, Doctor Daniel Jackson and…" Jack paused. "Teal'c."

--//

Harry nodded as each of the General's team was introduced and wondered for the briefest moment if he should have saluted, and then decided to dismiss the thought, they were after all from a different universe, General could be the guy who made the cake for all he knew. But he suspected that it wasn't. Glancing vaguely to his side he could tell that Rhonda was curious about the big dude, Teal'c tattoo.

"Shall we?" Harry gestured toward the platypus.

"Sure."

--//

Sam looked around the craft they'd followed the _Sorcerer_ Captain into, there was seating along each side of the hull, facing each other like on many military aircraft, but the floor was scuffed slightly and it appeared as though the seating and the flooring could be configured different ways making it a multipurpose craft.

The captain and the linguist made the short distance to the front of the craft with the General standing watching them go.

"You'll need to strap in General." Said the Captain, Jack watched as Captain Potter pulled straps on the harness on his chair.

"You're not expecting a rough flight are you?" Danny said from the seat directly behind Potter.

Potter turned around in the chair. "No, but I don't think my captain would appreciate me bringing you to our ship shaken up." He turned around back to the controls.

--//

"Green, Green, Green."

"Everything's green Harry." Rhonda said looking at the indicators.

"Which is good…alrighty…engaging antigravs…disengaging landing struts…" There was a noise from below them as the antigravs held them above the _Prometheus' _deck.

--//

Carter looked across at him as he listened to Potter and Munro.

"Everything's green Harry."

"engaging antigravs…disengaging landing struts…"

_Antigravs? _He mouthed at Carter, Carter made a shrugging motion.

--//

"Ok and through the energy field…easy…" Harry muttered to himself.

"Ok if I?" Rhonda said nodding her head towards their passengers.

"Sure."

--//

Jack immediately felt it as they left _Prometheus' _confines. Zero gravity, and the craft's own motion tugging slightly on them.

"You don't have gravity?" He asked as Munro turned around to face them.

"It can, but on short journeys it's not worth stretching the energy field around." Called Potter from the controls.

"What he said."

"So…" He started.

"You're from the United Nations?" Daniel asked curiously.

Munro nodded, but it wasn't quite an indication of correctness.

"We're part of it. You seem surprised, the UN didn't assist in you ship's construction?"

"Nup, all American ingenuity, mostly Carter's."

--//

"_Captain Potter, sensor analysis have broken out the portable gear, they want to scan our guests when they arrive to achieve a clear scanning of any dimensional residue before they come aboard._"

"Haven't they worked out from the close in ship scans?" Harry asked the voice in his ear.

"Inconclusive there's a lot of energy washout either from the _Prometheus' powerplant or something else. They want to be sure we're not dealing with some form of subterfuge."_

"Right, got it. Approaching the ship now."

--//

"It's a big ship." Daniel said staring out the window at the ship they were approaching, dark coloured, with not a lot of distinguishing features, except what he guessed were probably weapons.

"There are bigger." Munro said casually.

Jack watched, Carter's eyes almost bulged at that comment.

"And you build it all yourself you don't have any…help?"  
"From 'aliens' you mean? They help by leaving behind things, reverse engineering is good for that, plus remains of civilisations gives our xeno-archaeologists something to do."

"Xeno-archaeologists…archaeologists who focus on non-human discoveries, amazing, I…" Daniel tried to lean forward and was stopped by the straps he himself had pulled tight.

--//

"Just thought I'd mention it, once we land our people just want to run you though a few scanners…before the readable energy and elements gets all…" Harry waved a hand briefly taking it off the controls.

"Mixed up with the general mish mash of the universe." Rhonda finished.

"Right. Ok." General O'Neill said from behind him.

--//

Jack looked around the bay that the craft had landed in, it was a cargo bay, much like _Prometheus'_ much like the SGC.

Except there were odd things that he was sure Carter had ideas about on tripods, stands and people checking the things over, _scanning_ them.

New universe and all that, best not to piss off the hosts. _Probably_ new universe. Though he doubted his imagination stretched this far with this amount of technobabble.

--//

"Sorry about that." Harry said as he lead them out of the bay, the scanning hadn't taken that long, though it'd probably take a short while for them to come up with conclusive proof. Colonel Rogers had ordered him to take them on a friendly tour of the ship or to have in formal discussions with them, whichever he thought was better.

--//

Whatever Jack thought they were going to do, sitting holding a mug of coffee wasn't what he imagined.

"So, I guess we have some questions." Captain Potter leaned back into the chair, they were sitting in the crew's mess. He looked around, there were some crew sitting, eating, many of them didn't have any indications of rank.

"Your captain said you were a UNIT vessel?" Daniel let the question hang. "I was curious it sounded United Nations based."

"United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, protecting the Earth against everyone who wants to invade it."

"Okay…how many people have tried to invade?"

"Lately or overall?"

"There's that many?"

The _Sorcerer _Captain, that was something else he intended to ask about was about to elaborate when the lights flashed blue.

"_Battle Alert_, _Battle Alert_…_All personnel to stations_."

--//

Harry stood up quickly and then looked at his guests.

"You'd better come with me." He smiled and nodded toward the door.

"Sir." Harry said as he walked onto the bridge, Colonel Rogers turned and gave him a look at his entourage, Harry gave a look back, it wasn't as though he could have left them in a broom cupboard some where, that would be erring on the side of rude.

He motioning for them to sit in the observer seats near the rear of the bridge that were used for people observing or not actually operating any stations.

"Why the battle alert sir?" Harry asked as he settled himself in looking over the data that was coming into the bridge.

"Sensor analysis picked it up." He gestured towards the three main screens.

--//

"Carter you're doing the astonished fish act again."

"Sir this, this set up and technology its…"

"Yeah Carter, but no window." He waved towards the front of the bridge. "Not one, anywhere."

"Something to ask the _Sorcerer _Captain after this crisis…Jack…" Daniel started.

"Danny you're not going to ask me." He was cut off by Daniel's wonderings.

"You don't think this is our fault."

"Daniel, I told you not to tell me that."

--//

"Energy spike, intensified hyperspace window forming, it's a big one too sir." Harry said, but the levels on the screens before them spoke for themselves, it was rising and rising further up the 'big and dangerous' scale.

"Move us to a safe observable distance, inform _Prometheus _to move into an orbit between Phobos and Mars. Send coordinates if necessary. Prep Thylacines for launch."

--//

"Thylacines?" Jack pondered.

"Extinct Australian marsupial." Daniel answered immediately.

"This crew is Australian. Maybe space here is ruled by Australians. That'd be different." Carter added.

"Except he" Daniel nodded toward Sorcerer Captain Potter "He was probably born in England."

"On account of his weird accent."

"I'm a linguist Jack, I think I can tell these things."

--//

"Mass detected leaving window. We're reading huge energy washout on the scanners."

"Bring them up."

"We're getting a transmission sir, linguistics is running it now."

"Let's see it anyway."

Two of the screens changed, one the left displayed the three large ships that had appeared through the hyperspace window.

"How big?" Colonel Rogers breathed as he stared at the three pyramid shaped ships.

"Sensors are having trouble, conservative guesses are at 650 meters long. Unidentified power source, unidentified defensives. Battle analysis and linguistics suggest an imperialistic and oppressive based civilisation based on intimidation. Still running the language." Harry reeled off the relevant information as the man in the interesting clothing leaned back on a golden throne, and from the sounds of it ordered them to do something.

--//

"That slimy snakehead." Jack muttered.

"What's he saying Daniel?"

"I'm…give me a minute."

"I thought you're the 'linguist' Danny?" O'Neill mocked.

"It _is_ Ba'al O'Neill." Teal'c said in a low voice.

--//

"Launch Thylacines protective formation around us, contact Earth what ships have we got there. Harry battle analysis?"

"Just coming up, we're trying to tease out usable data."

The left hand side screen switched to show the battlespace of their local area of space.

It showed the three pyramid shaped craft with the lead ship and two others forming a rough triangle with the _Hattah_ at the apex.

"All three ships have energy shielding, we're detecting craft launching from an area within from all three craft."

The battlespace had started off not too much in their favour, and now was looking decidedly worrying.

--//

"Oh dear." Daniel said looking at the screen.

"Maybe, just maybe Daniel _that_ might be our fault." Jack admitted and pulled the straps on his seat that much tighter.

--//

_Author Notes:_

_This chapter took me a while to come up with._

_It's taken me a while to find and get into my head the 'voices' of Jack, Sam, Daniel and Teal'c. Plus at this point I think I've got Jack down alright and Sam sort of and Daniel sort of, sorry if they're not too spot on._

_What the person on the Ha'tak is saying isn't specified for a few reasons, one is they're speaking Goa'uld, the second reason is I did want to actually write it and have it sneak in here and there throughout these final few paragraphs, however it's quite hard to find an English – Goa'uld translator. _

_There will be a translation next chapter courtesy of the __Hattah__'s linguistics section. _

_Harry is a bit older and he's a Captain now so he's gone up a rank (from lieutenant)._

_Thanks for reading._


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: All characters, names, settings etc belong to their respective copyright holders, only Night Wolf and a few other things are of my own creation (but inspired from many things under copyright, which aren't mine).

**Chapter 02**

"What's the status on other ships?" Colonel Rogers directed the question to Katrina Foster who manned communications.

"_Resolute _is down for work, reactors are cold 20 minutes till she's in the air, _Willandra, _and _Indefatigable_ are in various stages of unloading, they'll be with us in 10 minutes, according to reports _Djukbinj_ is due back within the next half hour or so."

Colonel Rogers stared at the battlespace layout, the ships were spilling out of the large pyramid shaped ships, they were moving out filling the gaps between the ships preparing to move out, but they weren't they were sitting there, making an imposing specter.

"Harry where's that translation?"

Harry nodded, managing the streams of data coming into the bridge requiring attention, battle analysis were already coming up with a variety of scenarios and plans, none of them good, they had 12 Thylacines and their one ship until the ASCS _Willandra, _and RSCS _Indefatigable _and _Resolute _got to their position, so for nigh on 10 minutes it would be 3 against one and that was just the main crafts. Their squadron of Thylacines was good but even so they would be pushing it beyond anything and this was just based on guesses about the ships power sources, much of which was still blotting out their scans, the power source systems must have been huge throughout the ships.

"Linguistics is having trouble with the syntax, it shares base phonology with some Arabic, they're putting it together with our Osirian translation system, but it's a very rough translation."

"Harry I'll take rough rather then that. Put it up."

--//

"Here we go Danny, translation, by the UN."

"Of a language they've never heard, a paragraph Jack, it took me longer than that to piece together workable Goa'uld, remember?"

--//

The transmission from the other ship appeared on the screen, the confident looking man, again on the screen.

Subtitles appeared below it, indicating the translation.

"They're still working to get precise meanings out of it sir." Harry said as he started the translation playback.

Tauri (???, region specific title, ideographic designation, person specific indication, opening gambit, insult???), **vessel/ship/boat/craft****I/we/you (**specific designation), _verb _(??? Possible am ???), _possessive pronoun_**Baal (**name corresponds to Hadad, god of rain, thunder and fertility. May also refer to Judo-Christian Baal. Unknown Egyptian/Osirain connections). _possessive pronoun _**instruct/decree/order/demand** **you **body language suggests definite implication towards _us_) **prostrate/lie down/bow**towards/to/forwards **myself/me/possession. Myself/I/we power/omniscience/knowledge, I/myself/we****passage/travel/journey, **(implication of great distance and travel throughout ???unknown??? bow down, possible congregation/court ???) **I/we** **powerful/all seeing/knowing omniscience/deity/goddess/god/demon.**

--//

"That's not that bad." Daniel muttered to himself.

"What? Daniel that was…"

"Remember when we first went to Abydos or Chulak?"

Jack went silent for a moment "Fine, still it's no universal translator."

"He is using an obscure Goa'uld dialect."

"Probably for intimidation purposes." Daniel mused on Teal'c comment.

--//

"Right." Colonel Rogers said after a moment. "Send back that they are in Earth controlled space, send it through everything we've got, every translation system along with standard number and letters something will have to get through."

--//

"Colonel Rogers." Daniel looked as Jack leaned forward on his seat and wondered what he was doing. "Oh…right you're not going to suggest."

"I believe he is Daniel Jackson."

"We might know him. Maybe we can have a chat, ask him what he's doing in this neck of the woods."

--//

"…in this neck of the woods." General O'Neill offered.

"I'll take that under advisement, Harry status of ships?"

"Holding steady, transmission has been received, nothing yet."

"Status of ships on Earth?"

"Still 8 minutes out." Harry said, a lot could happen in 8 minutes and the way the small craft were twitching about was really starting to worry him and if it was him, it must really worry the Thylacine pilots who were staring them down outside the ship.

"Linguistics, estimated time for opposing ship to have formulated a message?"

"They would have been able to send a simple message by now captain. Given the complexities of their opening message sir." Harry said, compressing what linguistics actually said on that subject.

"Very well, frame them into comms and open up for two way communications." Rogers said turning to the group of extra-universal people. If they were working in concert with the man in the pyramid ship he'd be…annoyed.

Harry nodded over to Daniel Jackson.

--//

"Jack, we're on."

"Hey Baal…buddy…so…you're here in another universe, looking for the good version of you with an eye patch and flower garden?"

--//

Had Harry known all you needed to do to contact the guy with god delusions (or possible actual god-ness) was to ask him about gardening things would have gone along much quicker.

"Receiving comms traffic back, opposing ship is opening communications."

--//

"And if it isn't my good friends SG1 of the Taur'ri, already making acquaintances with the local _human_ population, so where is your quaint little ship." Said the main, he had a smooth slightly South African accent and was lounging in his throne, an amused smile on his face.

"Ah Teal'c, Colonel Carter, Doctor Jackson, what is that human term, the 'whole gang' is here."

"What brought you here Baal or just trying to find a universe where you're not smug, self righteous, obtuse excuse for…"

"A god?" Baal cut Jack off.

"So what are you doing here? We only came by accident?" Carter asked, not really helping herself.

"Imagine my surprise a Tau'ri ship on the edge of the Stargate network…"

--//

Colonel Rogers leaned back, allowing the General to continue his 'conversation' with Baal, any stalling time they could gain while their other ships arrived was fine.

--//

"…a simple, for a god, matter of locking my Hat'aks onto the same energy frequency as your craft and I followed you, a minor change to my ships hyper drive systems and…" He waved his hands.

"You came out of hyperspace earlier a system a dozen or so light years from Earth, you disrupted your engines output just enough to drop out, but not enough to be damaged by the disruption of the hyperspace window…that's amazing…"

"Thank you Colonel Carter, I appreciate your candour in my brilliance."

"Carter, not helping."

--//

Harry raised an eyebrow at General O'Neill's opening statement of

"_Hey Baal…buddy…so…you're here in another universe, looking for the good version of you with an eye patch and flower garden?"_

But tuned most of the conversation out, there would be a report coming from linguistics analysing the language construction, facial movements, body language, and everything in the background of the image.

Harry nodded to himself as a preliminary analysis appeared, the guy, definitively wasn't human, and it wasn't just the flashing of the eyes ostentatious dress sense, and overly confident demeanour and super ego, the latter three could be put down to standard megalomania, the eyes how they moved and how he lounged with his body, the emphasis on words everything set him off as not quite…something.

There was also the note on the hieroglyphs set into the wall behind him, those would require some work to translate, but that didn't tally with Baal's name, if that was his name, not just an assumed identity. But then why build your spaceship to look like a pyramid and fill it with Hieroglyphs.

Though they were placing their values and assumptions on an extra-universal ship, so there were caveats in the assumptions they were making.

Battle analysis was continuing to strategise, they too were listening to Baal's conversation and feeding that into their strategic plans for them.

Baal's first actions would be to take out their craft and possibly the _Prometheus_. Which was still hidden from sensors my Phobos.

There was a big warning on his screens that stated they'd been getting irregular enemy energy spikes from the craft, it wasn't a general scan there was a 45 percent chance it was an attempt to matter transmit aboard, or locate a suitable transmat point.

Harry forwarded that to the Colonel Roger's 'periscope' that had been beside him since the battle alert was called, it provided him with all relevant information, the Colonel, while not central in the communication with Baal was present in the image, listening and waiting so Harry didn't want to ask him out loud, though he could frame or mute out the Colonel, according to linguistics it was better to stay in view for when the Rogers wanted to address Baal directly.

Harry received a confirmation a moment later and began a power-up up the transmat jammers, there was a slight possibility that the enemy would see this as an aggressive act, but at this point they were building toward said aggressive act and he'd rather not have enemy combatants on board.

The analysis of the enemy ships was bringing mixed results.

They were tetrahedral, with energy shielding, currently in operation, this seemed to take a lot of their power, but it also caused massive energy washout that limited the _Hattah_'s ability to scan conclusively, the main ship from which the communication was coming had stronger shielding than the other two.

Which made sense.

They had discerned that there were multiple weapons platforms, they couldn't see any delvery systems for phyical weapons such as missiles, so they could postulate that any attack would come on a direct line from the ships.

The platforms were harder to discern, again from the energy washout.

There was definitely a main weapon moving and targeting them.

There were also several smaller platforms, targeting (probably) them and the Thylacines spread out around them.

_Manoeuvrability_, was highlighted as one of the positives that they could claim, battle strategy announced in a red highlighted note to him.

The…whatever craft didn't appear to be able to move on a tight turn or on their axis.

From their design and positioning appeared to have arisen from a culture used to attacking or flying within the gravity of a planet.

The layout of the battlespace was also interesting and was informing battle strategy's choices for manoeuvres.

Harry directed his attention to _"ship on the edge of the Stargate network"_ they still seemed mighty engrossed in stroking his ego.

The battlespace was laid out in a classic 2 dimensional arrangement, any regular navy strategist would see it, they were out flanked by the three larger ships with superior number of supporting attack fighters.

_Willandra, __Indefatigable _and _Resolute _were still at least 6 minutes away, they would hopefully not be detected, travelling under Fidelius. Too bad they couldn't fire weapons under the Fidelius; it mucked around with the sensors and targeting, plus when any ship did it stuff they whole already complex (adhering it to the ship, moving as it was) and required completely redrawing of the runes and charms.

Fortunately they had three dimensions to use, but it suggested that the enemy probably wouldn't use the extra dimension to move around in.

They would need to do something daring and unexpected in order to surprise Baal's forces.

There in lay the problem, while they had plenty of unexpected things to do, most of them would leave them with damage (to the _Hattah_) and very little to the enemy craft.

Especially as it was looking like they were running out of conversation topics, or whatever it was that General O'Neill was baiting Baal with.

Harry stared at the re-recommended manoeuvre, it was 'interesting' but would probably give them their best chance of success.

He gave the initial go ahead, for initial measures to begin, the stretching back of the gravity field around the ship allowing more power to go to various systems and giving the ship a slightly better manoeuvring footprint.

The manoeuvre would have them use their forward weapons, the magical energy weapons, set to blasters, rather than the cutters and others that they could be altered to do.

By using a specially designed prism, which was generally used and then chucked in a bin for recycling, would deflect the energy from forward out on a hard angle, hopefully destroying some of the enemy's craft and striking the two other main ships.

All the while this would be happening they would be almost sliding in a zig-zag movement through the extreme range of the enemy's predicted weapons range at full speed toward Baal's ship, using the energy cannons along the port and starboard side of the ship to attack Baal's craft, the movement

The Thylacines would attempt to take out the enemy's craft, going over and around the craft, utilising their (theoretical) inability to manoeuvre.

Interceptors would take out any enemy fire.

When they reached a certain point the _Hattah_ would pivot 90 degrees 'up' on its axis and move over Baal's ship at power using their the smaller manoeuvring engines on the side of the ship that had a time ago originally intended to be for docking, though had since been redesigned for 'extreme manoeuvring situations'. Then they'd continue around with the intention of taking out where they guessed the force field control was. According to best guesses, where a lot of energy was flowing around was below the craft in the centre.

It all looked very good in the wire frame and battlespace strategically layout.

--//

Sam looked around and wondered if anyone else could feel it, the gravity in the ship was slowly…decreasing.

She looked across at the station that Captain Potter was manning, there were several screens that she could see one that displayed some sort of battle plan.

--//

Harry grappled at the seat belt and pulled them that little bit extra hard and hit a note to the Captain informing him of what would happen.

He hit back a final ok and Harry put out a general alert to all crew members to 'strap down' and get ready.

Harry caught Colonel Carter looking in his direction he nodded toward the screen nearest to her which was flashing the warning, she nodded imperceptibly to him.

--//

"What is it that you want?" Rogers asked firmly, if he let the conversation go any further Baal might just thrash out unexpectedly, megalomaniacs generally couldn't resist a 'what do you want' question…though the answer usually was followed with a begin of hostilities it gave them a good marker.

"Good question." General O'Neill said to himself.

"I will wipe this pitiful, Tau'ri craft, as one would swat an insect. This shall be the beginning of a new Empire" Rogers could heard the capital E on empire and even if Baal's eyes hadn't just glowed, the megalomania was shinning right through.

--//

"_the beginning of a new Empire."_ That to Harry sounded close to the end of Baal's rant, he signalled to all stations to begin the manoeuvre, the engines began power up, interceptors and weapons systems began to final acquisition of targets.

--//

"You Tau'ri will bow down, and worship me as your God! Jaffa Kree!"

The transmission cut out.

"Harry hope we're ready."

"Of course captain, already moving, enemy is targeting us."

"Good."

--//

"How can that be good? Carter?"

"I think sir…" Carter was cut off as the acceleration cut in with some force. "I think you should pull the seat belts tighter."

"Baal was rather angry wasn't he." Daniel said casually.

"Daniel there's…" Jack was cut off as everything swung to one side.

--//

Harry looked switched his gaze from several different reports as they swerved and weaved along through the enemy fire, Baal's craft was backing away, slowly, as it was firing.

"Harry interceptor effectiveness?"

"90 percent so far, forcefield are keeping out anything that gets through, Thylacines are taking enemy craft on a run."

Colonel Rogers looked at the battlespace, which was surprisingly clear considering three ships were attacking them.

One of the three ships had broken off its attack on them to chase the Thylacines, which were leading them toward Mars.

Hopefully it would drag the ship down in the gravity of the planet allowing the Thylacine squad to take further shots while the craft re-orientated its self.

"Brace for final attack run." Harry called out, at the speed they were going this was going to be something.

"Where are the other ships Harry?"

"2 minutes maybe less."

"Foster get the R_esolute_ to breakaway and assist in fighting above Mars."

"5 seconds."

--//

"It's a pretty gentle ride so far." Daniel said as something sounded like it exploded against the hull of the ship.

"You had to say it Danny." Jack said as he felt the gravity, or lack of it pivot him into the belts holding him into the chair.

"Feel those G's Carter, Danny."

"It's amazing, the stresses and manoeuvring of this ship, look sir, we're…" Carter said staring at the screen which showed a view of Baal's ship as weapons fire exploded against it and the smaller version of the large 'battlespace' on the main screens.

--//

"Main enemy caft launching another squadron of fighters towards us." Harry stared at the sensor analysis, ignoring the constriction he felt as the ship rotated around the enemy craft. Sensor analysis were working at double speed to find the ship's forcefield systems, as they'd ascertained that all three ships were the same, if they could find the forcefield generator, or even where a lot of the ship's power was poured into they'd be on a more even footing.

--//

"Why isn't Pendergast and _Prometheus_ here Carter?" O'Neill said as the ship manoeuvred once more.

"_Prometheus' _systems were damaged sir, plus" She paused. "The Colonel did order them into near orbit of Phobos."

"And _why_ did he do _that_?"

"Well Jack we did just arrive in this universe, we might not be trustworthy, especially considering these people have got three Goa'uld motherships to fend off."

"All the more reason Daniel to have _Prometheus_ here."

"I believe we should brace."

"Why's that T…" Jack didn't have time to finish his sentence as the _Hattah_'s manoeuvring engines hit their peak pivoting the ship around the vertical axis of Baal's craft.

--//

Sensor images flashed through the sensor and battle analysis sections as the ship swept around on a fast and tightly controlled move, scanning, comparing and matching energy output to the impact of their weapons on the craft energy shielding in an attempt to locate the where most the energy was pooled into the craft and therefore making it the best place to focus their weapons.

They would run out of prime scanning time in 4.2 seconds as the ship needed to pull off a corkscrew spin removing it from close in fire from the ship's main weapon, which would be necessary because in 5 seconds the interceptors would no longer be able to even _pretend _to cope with the incoming fire.

By this point they had intended to have found the best place to attack and should have begun their attack.

But the energy washout from whatever it was that powered the massive ship was extreme.

Whatever it was they used to power the ship must have had a huge energy potential or was so boarder line unstable that it would need constant maintenance to be kept in balance or was pretty much lethal to all sentient life.

Or quite possible a bit of all three.

A note was forwarded to the SSC officer to keep their and the Thylacine's distance when the destroyed the craft.

At 2.35 seconds their scanners aligned and they had a 80 percent match on what were probably shield generators…or a power plant…or a weapons systems reactor.

Most of the energy that flowed around the ship and outward was directed in this area at the base of the ship.

--//

"We've got the location of concentrated energy." Harry said as the data flashed up on his screen and was distributed to the pilot controlling much of the ship and to Varner a short way next to him who manned a majority of the ship's weapons.

"Break off and reform with the _Willandra _and_Indefatigable._"

--//

"You alright Daniel?" Sam looked at Daniel who was gripping the sides of the seat he was pressed into with steely resolve.

"Fine, fine. Actually Jack, why is it that whenever I go anywhere with you I get shot at?"

"Daniel, I'm hurt. And if I might say you're sounding a little self absorbed. _We're _getting shot at."

"Actually we seem to be moving away from the close in fighting." Carter observed, just after she observed that the whole ship shuddered and things sparked behind her.

Jack looked over at Carter who shrugged, eyes wide.

"Ya had to jinx it."

--//

"What the hell was that?" Colonel Rogers exclaimed and warning signals flashed across the screens, they'd just taken a huge hit to the top deck force fields right above the top interceptors.

"This." Harry said as the left had side screen showed a real world and scanner image of a mid sized pyramid shaped craft, it was bigger than the fighter craft, most of which they'd left behind in pieces.

"It fired some sort of kinetic energy charge at us, mostly kinetic, the energy yield depleted by the forcfields, the hull's absorbed and deflected most of the hit."

"Any breaches?"

"Slight fracturing along the outer bay."

"Seal it, sealant foam on standby. Swing us around and send information to _Willandra _and_Indefatigable._" Rogers turned his attention toward the battlespace. Above Mars it appeared their Thylacines with the _Resolute _were driving the other craft back towards them, Baal's craft was still hanging back, but was still firing towards the _Hattah, __Willandra _and_Indefatigable._

"Prep for combined attack on the other enemy craft it should drive Baal to retreat toward Jupiter."

--//

In the battle strategy section they had already begun thinking about that particular eventuality, and with their close proximity to the ASCS W_illandra _and RSCS_Indefatigable_ were bouncing ideas between them on secure, encoded channels.

At current predicted rate it needed one ship to attack the ship, a second to occupy the ship's sensors and whatever else and a third to use all of its weapon's fire to punch a hole through and take down its shields.

--//

Barely after they'd got confirmation the _Hattah_ was powering forward toward the foremost craft that had been slinging energy blasts at them and the other two craft.

"Switch forward weapons, blaster and cutter, re-align, I want to see if we can punch a hole through the shielding." Rogers said leaning into his chair.

"Done sir."

"Fire. Continuous fire till we hit the red, sensors refocus on target. Ready weapons for secondary assault when shields go down."

--//

The captains of the three ships had promptly ignored part of the advice from their respective battle analysis sections that suggested one of them play the target for the ship they were attacking.

The remaining Thylacines had been ordered to continue attack runs on Baal's ship, just so he didn't forget they were still around.

There was also the concern of the ship approaching behind them from Martian orbit, damaged though still quite able to fight behind trailed by the RSCS _Resolute._

--//

Jack turned and looked at the screen that Carter was so fascinated with, it showed a Goa'uld mothership.

"_Fire_." He heard the Colonel say, quite calmly considering he was facing off one of the snakehead's ships.

Purple and red energy was thrust into view and toward the ship, impacting with a splat on the shields.

"No surprise there." He commented.

--//

"Affects?"

"Cutter may be having some affect, but it's requiring full output of blasters to knock a small hole in it their shielding."

"Getting comms from _Willandra _suggesting concerted effort as _Indefatigable_ begins spiral attack run on shield generators." Foster said as they received communications.

--//

"Here we go again." Daniel said as he looked at the screen as the two ships lined up for a focused blast at the ships.

"They're doing pretty good, if we hadn't had the Ancient Outpost…." Carter began.

"Don't remind me."

"Then Prometheus wouldn't have stood a chance at destroying Anubis' ship, short of ramming it."

"Which is what Hammond was going to do, and they call me reckless!"

Sam was going to challenge his statement, but just sighed, it wouldn't be worth it in the short run. Or for that matter the length until the universe ran cold.

The ship shuddered as something, probably weapons fire impacted against the hull.

--//

Harry stared at the wider battlespace and the implications there in, if they didn't destroy the ship infront of them, they'd be in trouble.

If however they did manage to destroy the ship, they still had problems, there was the pursuing ship behind them, the _Resolute_ was taking some damage from it, and the enemy craft appeared to be increasing speed with the medium sized craft flying on four axis points cutting off manoeuvring for them.

There was a second smaller craft behind the RSCS _Resolute _which he guess may have been the _Prometheus _but their sensor assets were currently directed toward more pressing matters than the other universe's craft.

"_Indefatigable_ is beginning attack run Colonel."

"Good Harry, status on shielding?"

"With the _Willandra_'s combined power we're knocking a small hole, but it's not enough to even breach their atmosphere, battle analysis suggest we hold back and channel everything if…when the shields go down." Harry paused.

There was relative quiet, aside from the impacts against the hull from weapons, detritus and the constant thrum of the interceptors in close proximity to weapons.

"Harry is the battlespace accurate?" Colonel Rogers asked in a calm voice in the relative non-silence of battle.

"Yes sir, if we destroy the craft off our forward bow we'll be too close to the explosion to escape massive damage. If we try to begin manoeuvres the ship to stern will take us out and probably ram us, _Willandra _and _Indefatigable_ as it comes around out of the spiral attack." Harry said in a calm, slightly amused voice that only comes from impossible situations and the knowledge that yes you are in them.

"That's good then."

--//

"That's good, we're in an impossible situation and we're about to die and that's good." Daniel shook his head, about the only thing he could do comfortably.

"It's turning into one of those days, Carter, any ideas?"

"Sir, we're on someone else's ship, strapped down and…I wouldn't even know where to start with these systems."

"Come on Carter, it's a ship, goes through space, if you can build a space ship, travel through time and meet guys like the Asgard, ya gotta have a plan for days like this."

--//

"Battle strategy?"

"They're working on it sir. It's going to take a fair amount of sustained fire power to take out this ship, all weapons are predicted to be at 120 percent."

"How long till shields down?"

"_Indefatigable _is taking hits, estimate 3 minutes to optimum firing efficiency."

"Can we assist?"

"We and the _Willandra_ are taking majority of fire, any close and we won't be able to range weapons and will get in the way of the _Indefatigable_ escape vectors." Harry said as he tapped a keyboard and the computer screens, accessing the data as it came through it him from the various areas of the ship. The _Resolute _had sent them a info update, the _Prometheus_ was indeed fighting along side using some form of adapted _rail_ _gun_ technology, only UNIT sea vessels carried such technology, the relatively short range and need to keep huge supplies on board ships for space based combat made them unviable.

"Harry status of all engines on us and the _Willandra_?" The captain said momentarily breaking Harry out of his thoughts concerning weapons technology.

"We've got full engines, _Willandra_'s taken some hits to starboard side manoeuvring engines."

"How long till we can fire?"

"Enemy caft's shields are faltering, estimate at 1 minute, the enemy _behind_ us will be with us in 5 minutes."

"The _Resolute and Prometheus _I see keeping it busy…has it increased speed?"

"Probably." Was Harry's response and he could practically see the captain staring at him, except he wasn't, but Harry knew the look even as the ship shuddered again, this time from the rear of the ship. "Yes, confirmed the ship behind us has increased speed. Seems we're the primary target."

Colonel Rogers was silent for 20 seconds as he watched the fluctuating sensor readings of the ship in front of them.

"Standby to channel all power including engines into weapons systems, except vital sensors." He said pausing and typing something into his 'periscope' beside him. "Slow us down and allow ship to stern to close the gap, get sensor analysis to keep a very close eye on the ship, when it starts to run to explosion rapid transfer all power to engines, get strategy to calculate the vectors, and forward the plan to the _Willandra_. Tell them they've got 10 seconds to object."

--//

"Carter did you understand that, because I'm starting to think that I did, and it sounds bad."

Lt Col Samantha Carter wasn't listening…well she was, she wouldn't deliberately ignore a senior officer…except that time they disobeyed orders and saved Earth…and that other time they disobeyed orders and…saved Earth…

But for now she was selectively listening to Captain Potter's report to the Colonel and his idea and what was represented on the battlespace, she'd realised at some point that the screen was touchable and could make one part of it larger by selecting it and such forth.

She could see the predicament that they were in, no where to manoeuvre, _if_ they managed to destabilise the naquadah energy flow in the Ha'tak it might create enough of an imbalance, together with this and the other ship's weapons fire to send it into cascade failure.

Then the lights flickered and dimmed further and the noise around the ship increased as the interceptors ceased firing and the engines powered down and all power barring the necessities for keeping its crew alive were diverted to the two forward weapons and the multiple energy cannons along both the starboard and port sides of the ship.

--//

Harry tried to ignore the various waring lights about things over heating, weapons fire that was going 'splat' against the hull and various other things that were occurring as the ship poured all of its energy into destroying the ship in front of them. There was also the ship behind them which, if he had felt like looking at a real time view of it was becoming _very_ big and looming quite fast.

If they didn't get out of the way soon they would impact against it like a bug against a windscreen, just with a slightly bigger bang.

Harry hovered his hand over the button to execute the change over from weapons to engines which would blast them 'upwards' and out of the way, and raise the stern forcefields hopefully making sure the forcefields slammed into the mid sized attack crafts instead of the hull.

"Forward weapons reach 140 percent…" He called out above noise of the ship. "Any more and we'll have a cascade on our hands." He said in a slightly lower tone.

"Just a little more Harry." The captain was staring intently at the sensor read out of the ship of their monitioring of the energy flow from their and the other two ship's vantage points.

All three ships would need to fight inertia to move away from the explosion from where they sat at a relative stand still.

Several things, including the ship in front of them reached red peak levels.

"Now!"  
Harry hit the button probably a little too hard and braced himself as the engines slammed on and he was forced into his seat as ship blasted at so last minute a half a second longer they probably would have his the ship behind them.

They were still making manoeuvres and moving away when both ships detonated, catching the _Indefatigable_'s rear top deck, making much of the hull fizz and causing several breaches.

On board the _Hattah _it felt like Harry felt like he was in a washing machine, being eaten by a dragon, who'd just had a couple of shipping containers of beans.

Harry didn't have time to even breath a sigh of relief when the communication came through from the several squads of Thylacines playing cat and mouse with Baal's main ship, it appeared that he was making a run for it.

Which was both good and bad, good that he wasn't going to attack, bad that if he did get away, space was vast and they didn't need _another_ meglomaniac with ideas of god hood out there. What they had already was enough.

"Full power to intercept Baal's craft." The Colonel was already shouting waving aside the smoke that had permeated the bridge.

Harry felt the ship pulse with more balanced power.

"Status of ships?"

"Both craft more or less destroyed, _Indefatigable_ suffered damaged to hull, they're continuing scan with _Willandra._ _Resolute _is following, battle analysis suggest Baal is making for Jupiter to perform a sling shot around to make an assault on Earth, past us….or alternatively he's just running…But general consensus from Linguistics is that Baal's language response means that there is a 60 percent chance that he would be likely to attempt some sort of final attempt."

"And the other part of the percent Harry?"

"20 percent chance he could attempt to gain control of our craft the rest is…open to speculation." Harry said vaguely.

"Has Baal noticed the jumpgate yet?"

"He's on the wrong side of Jupiter to see it sir."

"Battle strategy, what have we got?"

Harry was silent as the information pooled in, Baal's ship had peeled away from the Thylacines and was beginning to readjust its course, _Hattah _and _Resolute_ still had weapons…more or less. But they wouldn't be able to take down Baal's ship, not in their condition.

"At current rate of manoeuvring if we punch up our engines to 130 percent we can intercept his ship." Harry said after a moment.

"Good enough." The captain turned around to look face him in the again relative silence considering they weren't being shot at.

"And now Harry? Battle strategy have said something more?"

Harry frowned slightly.

"Uhh…no, Actually no. They're coming up with lots of what we don't have and lots of guesses, but they're a bit wacky."

"Wacky is good, lets see it before we run out of sky."

Harry nodded mainly to himself, the 'wacky' idea was sound…sort of, and it was an adaptation of one of the stratagems they had on file, when they weren't being fired at the battel strategy people dreamt up various strategies for use around the Earth's solar system.

So it wasn't a wacky idea in that they'd just pulled it out of thin air.

It was just wacky in that they'd never thought about doing it before.

--//

"I wonder what a 'jumpgate' is." Daniel mused taking the opportunity that the ship had stopped its carnival sensation of movement and relaxed as much as he could.

"Could be some sort of space jump gate." Carter offered though not looking away from the screen she was focusing on.

"What'd ya think this idea of their 'battle strategists' is Carter, beating Baal with their big space guns like the last two?"

"I do not believe so O'Neill, the last battle required three ships, there are only two."

"And a huge honking amount of those nifty 'Thylancine' craft….what is a Thylacine?" Jack turned to Daniel.

"An extinct Austrailan carnivorous marsupial."

"More Australian stuff."

"Yeah."

"O'Neill." Teal'c nodded toward forward screens.

--//

"Harry this is the Jupiter plan."

"Yes sir…Baal's and the other ships have good enough manoeuvrability though their ability to rise out of a 'glide' seems proportional to their size _if_ they were in an atmosphere, even though they're in space. If we can force Baal's ship into Jupiter's gravity well…and then fire into the hydrogen we should be able to destroy it. Or at least damage it enough that it is crushed by the gravity."

--//

Samantha Carter blinked at the explanation.

It simple and dangerous and probably something she woulod have come up with given half a chance, not that she'd ever do it, But it was a good idea. Albeit she didn't know how she would force Baal's ship into Jupiter in the first place.

--//

Colonel Rogers listened as Harry outlined the plan, they had a little under a minute and a half to work out the kinks in it.

The 'how' was a big one, in fact it was a gigantic one, which was what had stopped this particular plan from moving beyond the 'isn't this a good idea' stage.

But at the moment their forward weapons were still cooling down, their energy cannons were still working but he didn't want to have to put a strain on them as he'd just done so and as they had two ships, though several Thylacines squadrons they didn't have the firepower to take the ship down.

"How Harry?"

"Hmmm?" His SSC officer said, in a distracted voice which was more an inclined noise.

"How are we going to grab a hold of Baal's craft?" He repeated again. "One minute until we arrive."

"Supposedly his shields are quite weak, if the _Resolute_ and us fly over and continue momentum and um…the engineers should be able to adjust out forcefields to…" He made a meshing movement with his hands. "Mesh our forcefields to their shields and then together with the _Resolute_ tow his craft into Jupiter's upper atmosphere. Until we detach and make a hasty getaway before igniting as much hydrogen as we can, just in case."

"Just in case." Colonel Rogers repeated. "Have I got time to say no?"

"About five seconds, _Resolute_'s captain is waiting on your go ahead."

Rogers looked back up at the battlspace, both ships were lining up with an already fast moving object, if they got it wrong they'd be in all sorts of shit.

If they let Baal go he could escape, which would probably end up in more shit for them in the future.

He might try to damage the jumpgate, that was something that they _really_ didn't want, it was also expensive and tricky to fix and functioned as a beacon for travel between Earth and UNIT's research outposts and base.

Or Baal could turn around and fight them

"Go ahead with it, Felix go easy with it, we don't want long streaks of their paint work along the sides of the ship." He said to their pilot who was gently manoeuvring their vast ship just as it started to shake.

"Enemy firing weapons…"

"Interceptors?"

"We can fire…but they're at 55 percent effectiveness, dropping downwards as we approach into the final interlocking of the shields."

--//

"Carter is this going to work?"

"It is a surprising plan, it is not something the Goa'uld would expect or try." Teal'c observed.

"That's because it sounds like we're going to be ass kissing their shields." Jack exclaimed. "Even _we_ haven't tried that." Jack gave Carter a look that said that they _were_ never going to do that, not with _Prometheus_ or any other ships.

--//

As the _Hattah _drew up beside the moving pyramid shaped ship Harry briefly had to wonder if this _was_ going to work.

It sounded good and looked nice in theory.

But they were mucking around with two types of energy shielding, one they knew a fair bit about, the other they'd known for all up under an hour.

Now they were about to attempt something the equivalent of a semi-trailer speeding down a curvy mountain road at 300 kilometres in the rain and attempt to do a puzzle that was made of lightning and could smash you to pieces in one wrong move.

What made it worse was it wasn't just them, _Resolute_ was performing the same manouvere _at the same time_ as them and they were both adjusting course, being fired upon and being bombarded by energy strike probably trying to get a matter transmission lock as they attempted the manoeuvre.

Correction as they went through with the manoeuvre.

Harry didn't need the sensor image provided in front of him, nor did anyone on the bridge really need the image indicating how close they were to the twisting and undulating craft they were attempting to ensnare.

When their forcefields and Baal's shields intersected it felt like they'd just hit a brick wall and then everything was shaking, and a few things exploding.

Harry ducked as something sparked above him, he didn't get any _more _warnings his way, so it was probably something superficial, as anything major was already alerting him that their situation was not good.

They'd lost gravity on throughout the whole ship as every bit of power went to manoeuvring the ship they'd latched onto, or hanging on to said ship with the forcefields.

Which incidentally would over load within X amount of time, no one would give him a definite on what the X meant, it was just in the equations.

That meant he probably didn't want to know.

"Harry! How long?" Colonel Rogers practically shouted above the noise, a combination of weapons fire against the intercepts and the hull, engine noise and the constant thrashing crackle of energy shield against energy shield.

Harry was tempted to ask 'until we become a ball of flame?' but decided against sarcastic comments until after the possibility of death passed.

--//

"The last time I saw Jupiter this close up, things ended with me a Teal'c taking a swim in space, I don't want that to happen."

"Don't worry Jack, if anything goes wrong I don't think we'll have time to think about it." Daniel shouted over the various droning on the bridge.

"Great help Danny, thanks for that uplifting information."

--//

They were heading down into Jupiter's atmosphere.

That was good.

They'd need another 'few' minutes until they reached the 'right' spot.

What 'few' and 'right' actually meant was in the hands of the battle and sensor analysis sections, who were as far as Harry could tell playing it by ear, because they wouldn't give a totally firm answer and it wasn't as though there was a precedent.

Pressure of the hull was increasing, but the enemy had stopped firing.

Both things were worrying, at least when the enemy was firing they knew it was predictable.

A tone alerted him to the enemy's move.

"Security squad to starboard forward side, matter transmission spike." Harry all but yelled into his mic. "Suit up in case of biohazard and loss of atmosphere." He added, the section that had been breached was able to from a damaged matter transmission jammer, that had also weakened the out hull, sealant was stopping it all from going to vacuum, but as pressure increased they might loose all atmosphere.

Another icon flashed, they seemed to be approaching the predicted point of release.

Harry would have tightened the belts on his seat, but he'd already tried too many times to count so far and this would be the worse.

He activated the ship wide comms.

"All hands brace for extreme manoeuvre."

The shaking abated and something exploded to the side of him out of the corner of his eye he could see it still sparking Harry reached down with one hand and grabbed an extinguisher and looked over to Teal'c.

--//

Jack looked over as Teal'c caught a fire extinguisher…or something chucked from Captain Potter.

Teal'c started squirting at the sparking panel, a green foam like substance sprayed out silencing the sparking.

"Nice going T."

--//

The pyramid shaped craft struggled to manoeuvre as the _Hattah _and _Resolute_ turned in the atmosphere of Jupiter and pushed their engines past maximum.

"Begin firing!" Rogers shouted.

"We're barely to the 'safety zone'"

"I want that ship out of the here."

Varner nodded and stared at the readings trying to find the biggest pocket of hydrogen, there was a rumble below them, it seemed that the _Resolute_'s captain couldn't wait either.

As the two ships powered toward the outskirts of Jupiter's atmosphere, below them their weapons reigned down on the 'god Ba'al', explosion upon explosion building as it ignited the pockets of hydrogen until a small fireball encompassed the ship and it fell further down, down until it was crushed, dead and destroyed.

Harry only breathed a sigh of relief when the sensors registered Jupiter's moons, instead of atmosphere, and constantly warning him of the hull and immanent force field failure.

The fact that if they did turn the force fields on now they'd probably melt or explode was something he chose to ignore at this point.

They'd survived a journey into Jupiter's atmosphere without any huge problems.

"Harry status of boarding party."

Harry quickly looked over his screens and then opened a comm. link to the security squad in charge.

"Status?"

"_All neutralised sir."_

"Survivors?"

"_Negative_"

"Good. Scan for biohazard…you know the drill." Harry said calmly, he didn't need to order them to lock it all down, or to keep their distance for squiggly weird things.

"_Sir_."

"All hostiles neutralised sir."

"Good. No remaining hostiles?" Colonel Rogers asked.

Harry looked at everything from their sensors and the data from the other ships in the area.

"No sir, we've got them all, there's a lot of damage and wrecks out here sir but…" He trailed off. "Jumpgate activating…it's the _Djukbinj_."

--//

Katrina Foster, communications officer nodded to herself as the communication from Earth came through.

"Colonel, direct message from Night Wolf Command."

"Send it over Katrina." Rogers said touching his mic on his ear and turned to face the screen on the periscope which changed to show an image of a General.

--//

"Well, now we can head on down to Earth and breath some of that air…" Jack pointed toward the front of the ship.

"I think Earth's that way sir." Carter jabbed a thumb toward the wall.

"Whatever we've survived another dalliance with Baal."

"I wonder if that's the last one of him."

"Daniel, you're not counting the positives, we survived, now we can land the _Prometheus._ Carter can do her fixity thing and we'll be home before you can say…" Jack made a motion with his hand trying to think of a word.

--//

Harry watched the Colonel converse with most likely General Lethbridge Stewart and listened to General O'Neill and the others talk about Earth among other things and where Earth was. He could point exactly where Earth was and it wasn't where Lt Col Carter pointed either, it was more or less behind them and to the left a bit.

The Colonel finished his conversation with the General and turned away to Katrina.

"Contact the _Prometheus_ tell them to meet near the jump gate."

"What's going on?" Jack O'Neill asked leaning forward in his seat, there still wasn't much gravity on the bridge.

"We're taking you to a base away from Earth, given the recent events my superiors don't want you in Earth's solar system."

--//

_I should have learnt, from Night Wolf – Beginnings and The Doctor Encounter. Space ship battles are hard to write, and in this case took three times as long as the other portions of the story._

_The lead up to the battle and all the setting in motion stuff was the easy part, it was the battle that I had to keep re-thinking and writing in sections, but hopefully it all makes sense._

_What I would have liked at several points during this is to have been able to put this in a column view as several things happen are happening at the same time._

_Thanks to everyone who reviews, I try to respond to any questions etc raised in reviews._

Below is what Ba'al actually said prior to the _Hattah's_ translation (or what I wrote first, before redoing it in its translated form)

_Tau'ri vessel, I am your lord god Ba'al. I order you to bow down before me, I am all powerful, all knowing I have come across the stars and you shall prostrate before me, for I am your all powerful God._


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: All characters, names, settings etc belong to their respective copyright holders, only Night Wolf and a few other things are of my own creation (but inspired from many things under copyright, which aren't mine).

**Chapter 03**

Jack blinked.

Harry wondered if he'd need to stun them.

"Say what now? Why get rid of this we didn't do any of this."

"Uh Jack…We kind of did, Ba'al is our fault and we did come here, in fact if we didn't."

"Daniel you remember the last time I told you to point out my faults in front of the enemy?"

"No."

"Exactly."

"_Prometheus _has acknowledged message, but they're refusing to manoeuvre towards us. Their commander wants a word."

Jack grinned. Colonel Rogers ignored him.

"See Pendergast will sort it out."

"Sir maybe we should just let them take us to this base, we wouldn't just let some people land their ship on our planet." Carter asked reasonably.

Jack turned in his seat the still lack of gravity still feeling weird.

"Carter don't you want to get _Prometheus_ down on Earth and fix it?"

"Assuming they have the facilities sir."

"There've been…" Jack started to count off ships on his hand.

"Four ships in the battle and then the _Djukbinj _that arrived just a little time ago, so five ships." Daniel thought slowly as he sounded out the final ship's name from the manner in which Captain Potter had stated it.

"Thank you Daniel."

"All larger than _Prometheus_."

"And Teal'c." Jack muttered.

"That doesn't mean sir that they have the facilities for _our_ ship. Plus have you _seen_ or _heard_ any _Americans?_" She muttered the last word.

"Maybe the US forgot to pay their space taxes." Jack turned his attention to the front of the bridge as the middle of the three screens switched from a forward view to an image of Pendergast sitting in _Prometheus's _bridge with more than a little smoke around it.

"Colonel Pendergast, I have orders from my superiors to escort your ship to a UNIT Research Base away from Earth." There was a pause as Pendergast seemed to be considering it.

"I can't Colonel, literally. Our hyperdrive is I think the technical term is completely fried."

"What happened, the Ancient device shorted out but I didn't register any major problems with the hyperdrive, or the window generators." Lt Col Carter said leaning forward in her seat, Harry adjusted the field of vision so she wouldn't need to lean _so_ far as to be able to be seen by Pendergast.

"No Colonel, however we took some damage from the Goa'uld, their fire took out some of the hyperdrive systems and we cannibalise the rest to get most of our defensive and offensive systems online."

"Oh…then we will need to land on a Earth, we'll need to do a full power down and see how badly everything's been damaged." She turned from the screen to Colonel Rogers.

"Sorry Colonel Carter. Colonel Pendergast your ship still has main engines running?" He direct the question forward and back to Harry.

"Just a moment…" Harry said as the screen on the left of the three forward screens changed from sensors around the ship to a silhouette of the Prometheus. "Just getting it up now, we're still registering full power flow to their engines, they appear to have fully functioning engines capable of maintaining extended operations."

"Yes Colonel, while I am certain that I could there is no planet within range using sub-light engines." Pendergast outlined calmly.

"Harry send them the rendezvous coordinates. Colonel make your way for those coordinates, you won't be needing your hyperspace window generators." Colonel Rogers stated and then looked at Pendergast. "Understand our position Colonel, you've just arrived from another universe, and you brought _accidentally_" Rogers made sure he emphasized that, he was sure he could hear Diplomacy some distance behind him muttering. "Three enemy craft into Earth's solar system, a couple of hundred million kilometers from Earth. How would you react?" Colonel Chris Rogers hoped linguistics were correct in their assumptions based on the American-centric manner of the _Prometheus'_ crew and their guests that they hadn't had any huge conact situations involving massively revelations on Earth.

"Very well Colonel though General O'Neill has final say on this decision."

Jack looked around.

"Sir?"

"Jack?" Daniel said in a warning tone.

"_Fine_ then we'll go." He said raising his hands and looking to the ceiling, which didn't reveal anything enlightening.

"Harry when're we getting gravity back? I don't want to have to go through hyperspace without some semblance of gravity, _not_ after the last time."

Harry chuckled to himself, it hadn't been that bad for some of the crew who got their less than gravity legs…or had wings to help stabilize themselves.

"Engines and power maintenance are still working out some kinks, we took a pretty hard beating in the final assault sir." Harry said as he looked through the relevant information that was presented to him and put it up on two of the three main screens.

Samantha Carter blinked, watching the streams of information scroll along the screens.

"Mean anything to you Carter?"

"Not as much as I'd like sir."

"We can take forward weapons out of commission, those will need a full check over and parts replaced. Keep energy canons primed just in case. Katrina check with _resolute, Indefatigable and __Willandra_ then recall Thylacine squadron. We can still take on our squadron Harry?"

"Uh…yes sir."

"If you can, can we head back to the _Prometheus?" _Jack O'Neill queried. Harry looked at them.

"Colonel?"

"Well Harry can we?"

"No, we took damage to the bays holding the Platypuses, there's sealant in there holding back vacuum and whatever other damage."

"Teleporters?" Jack asked vaguely.

"Nope, after that battle we had our jammers up past the limit they'll take a while to power down to safe levels, not safe to put anything organic through matter transmission until then." Harry stated.

"You're stuck with us for the duration General." Colonel Rogers met General O'Neill's expression with a slight smile.

"How long is the 'duration'? How long will it take to this 'research base'?" Daniel asked politely.

"50 hours give or take five or so."

"Two and a half days." Jack said immediately.

"Yeah. Give or take." Harry said simply.

"What's the status on the Thylacines, I'm not seeing a full squad Harry." Rogers said glancing at the main displays.

Harry nodded to himself as looked at the information and updates flowing in.

"We've got two on tow, they'll be docking shortly."

"What sort of damage?"

"Minor engines and a cracked support, they went safe, there's a lot of debris out there sir, just in case."

"Good."

"Sir, sensor analysis suggest we set up a beacon for _Prometheus_ so they can lock onto us during our journey, just in case. We don't want to loose them."

"No Harry, I don't think we should test that out with them. Do what they need to, have them work with diplomacy to get it all working. Just make sure it's specific I don't want another battle on our hands."

"Sir."

Jack leant back in the seat and waited, watching the officers…he corrected himself personnel, some of these guys didn't appear to have a rank and watched them work. It was just like being on _Prometheus_ except on _Prometheus _he could have gone down the corridor, into the elevator and got himself a coffee and returned.

Here though he couldn't even look out the window, what the hell was that about?

Carter would probably know, but she was still muckin' around with the computer screen they were near, he wondered if that was such a good idea letting Carter near the thing, but Captain Potter and the Colonel didn't seem to be bothered by her.

He turned and looked to Daniel, who seemed in one of his 'thoughtful' moods, he'd probably have to slap him out of it if he stayed like that for much longer.

Teal'c…T looked, like Teal'c.

And he…he felt…like he was putting on weight.

"Is it just me or is anyone else feeling like they've had a big lunch and it's just now settling down?" He said aloud to any and everyone.

"No General." Harry smiled to himself. "Captain we've got gravity back, though power management say they're going to keep it low till we're underway. Thylacines are all in and locked down, just awaiting…" He trailed off, the _Prometheus _had arrived and looking at the visual readings it had taken a bit of a beating, though all its windows appeared in tact. Harry didn't get that, well he knew there was some underlying need psychological need for a window, especially for people coming from ingrained military structures or anything that dealt with manoeuvring in 3D space but the physics of it just didn't work out, a window seriously compromised structural integrity on anything bigger than the platypuses which like the Thylacines had a specially constructed with specific charms, spells and sorcery throughout the process to make the clear substance practically indestructible, though they could only be worked over small to mid-sized things.

Harry wondered whether the designer had considered what sort of effect a high velocity ballistic weapon would do to the window on the ship deprived of any energy shielding, especially on such a visible target…something probably left to their strategists and designers.

"_Prometheus _is signalling their receipt of our lock on signal they're ready to depart…though they sound unsure of _exactly_ what and how sir." Foster said from across the bridge.

Jack looked at Carter who seemed ready to burst to ask about the 'jump gate'.

"Go on Carter before it gnaws at you any further." He said in a low, amused voice as he crossed his arms waiting and watching, and enjoying the gravity they now had.

"Captain, Colonel…what exactly is the jump gate?"

Jack smiled, Carter was being surprisingly restrained, though peripherally he noticed Danny and Teal'c had perked up out of their…whatever they were doing at Carter's questions, which he expected was going to be 'how, what, where, and probably an extra does of how and 'do you have plans I can go over?'.

"Harry put it up." Colonel Rogers said "Lets get going, tell _Prometheus _to follow us in."

"Follow _'us'_ into what…oh…" Jack asked Carter and the others as the forward screens changed to show one large image of…four large long pylons about the length of _Prometheus_ arranged to form a large square sorta circle in space above Jupiter.

"What you were expecting Carter?"

"Well we can rule out that this is something like a stargate." Daniel leaned over to them.

"It does appear different, in every way." Teal'c added, though didn't seem to agree.

"Activate jumpgate sequence." Colonel Rogers stated.

"Jumpgate ready, activating."

Carter watched as energy pulses pulsed in time along all four of the pylons, jumping the gap at the end and joining in the middle opening…

"Oh my…it's a wormhole…a wormhole generator…"

"Not quite no." Harry idly commented.

"Signal to _Prometheus_ to follow our vectors into hyperspace through the jumpgate." Rogers ordered as they moved toward the middle of the jumpgate.

Carter was staring at the main screens in wonder.

Then they reached the centre and transitioned into…red…red and black.

"What…what the…" She turned and looked at Captain Potter.

"Hyperspace." He said at her questioned look. "_Prometheus_ is transitioning to hyperspace." The forward screens divided back displaying data and sensor information with only the middle screen showing a view of _Prometheus_ which had just emerged from the jump-point. "Jump-point closed."

"Confirm with _Prometheus_ that they have a lock on our beacon."

"Lock on confirmed with _Prometheus._"

"Good, set course for Research Base One."

Harry nodded to himself as the various sensors registered that _Prometheus _was following beside them on their course towards Night Wolf Research Base.

Harry called up the diplomacy requesting some people up to look after their guests, Rhonda Munro plus some others to come and get them. He was pretty sure that Lt Colonel Carter wouldn't mind sitting on the bridge for half a dozen more hours, but he could see General O'Neill seemingly dropping into neutral state, even more so than Teal'c who seemed content.

A moment later Rhonda Munro arrive some others waiting in the corridor outside the bridge.

"Sorcerer Potter?" She said walking over to him, Harry noticed Daniel Jackson look up from his thoughts

Harry nodded to her as he pushed himself out of his chair to speak against the back of the bridge.

"Munro. Standard diplomacy, give em quarters, answer questions you know."

"Any limitations?" She asked immediately. Harry looked back at Lt Col Carter.

"I think lay off the sorcery…but gage their experiences."

"You think they might not handle it?" She asked curiously.

"What _do you_ think?"

"Hard to say, but I agree with you anything else?"

Harry shrugged. "Tell em I'll have dinner with them to answer any questions that you and your team don't want to answer."

"How much _company_?" Which Harry took to mean if they want to have a look around how many to go with them…and armed or un-armed.

"Your discretion, maybe secluded until you work it out."

"Sorcerer." She nodded an end to their conversation and a moment later walked out with the quartet.

"Harry I thought I ordered you to look after our extra-universal guests?" Colonel Rogers asked lightly a short while after the bridge had lost their four extras.

Harry stared innocently ahead as the Colonel turned around to look at him.

"Sir…then we got attacked and we're still running with damage…" The captain stared at him an amused expression on his face. "I'm eating with them this evening to explain anything, plus Diplomacy should get the occasional people who are as curious as we are and not bent on killing us or mass universal genocide."

"Fine Harry I agree. How's _Prometheus_ doing with hyperspace?"

"They haven't reported anything to us, we've got a constant check on the beacon, just a steam of information back an forth minute by minute to make sure everything is good a sensor feed as well down the same stream, just in case their sensors don't read the same."

"Good."

--//

Jack leaned back on a quite comfortable chair and watched the screen, he and Teal'c had been watching after a tour of some of the ship, Daniel and Carter had been off, asking questions, finding out stuff.

They had two and a bit days to do that.

Right now they were kicking back watching some videos.

The red and blacky kinda thing that had been showing the outside of the ship had got boring pretty quick.

Jack turned around as Daniel and Carter walked in, Daniel looking through a handheld computer and Carter had a laptop in her hands.

"I've set up a link with _Prometheus_ so I can go over out sensors, the diplomacy team gave me this so I didn't have to sit with them, took us a while to get all the linkages and thoroughfare data set up."

"Carter I only understood half of that."

"I've got a computer so I can look through _Prometheus's _computer."

"See I understood that."

"Did you uncover the differences between out universe and this one Daniel Jackson?"

"Huh…I'm beginning to."

"Well spill Danny." Jack rose from the chair and moved to sit at the small round table that they had. The room was between their quarters, he was sharing with Teal'c while Carter was in with Danny and this middle room was between. No kitchen and no window, though a pretty big TV.

Daniel nodded and spent a few moments fiddling with the hand held computer before taking the remote off of Jack and switching it.

"Okay…where should I start?" He asked looking around the table. Sam, Jack and Teal'c looked back at him.

"What's with the Aussies being such a…why do they have a whole bunch of space ships?" Jack said after a moment, Daniel smiled.

"That's what I asked, took me a while to get down to it, short answer is Skylab."

"Skylab?" Jack repeated. Teal'c raised an eyebrow in equal query.

"Skylab was NASA's first space station built in the 1970s, it was de-orbited in the late 70s, a few bits broke up, hit Australian soil."

"Yeah…that's what happened in our universe." Daniel started.

"Well what happened here?"

"It was quite a bit larger, I guess owing to various technological or economic leaps. Anyway…when it de-orbited, it hit Australia with a bit more than a few fragments in our universe."

"I'm guessing they weren't happy?"

"No…but that's sort of the middle of the story." Daniel added.

"What's the start then Daniel?"

"This Earth…and this universe seems to have a lot more aliens than ours, and Earth seems to be of some value…or at least they've had more alien visits…and they got a manned mission to Mars in the 1970s."

Jack stared at Daniel, Earth to Mars and back was still a dream for NASA, despite the SGC with their ship/s they still wanted to get there under their own steam.

"So the Australians had a working space program in the 70s?"

"No actually Jack that was the British."

Jack looked to Carter who shrugged.

"It was as surprising for me sir, though I only heard bits of it, I was working with another group from Daniel."

"So the British got to Mars in the 70s…then what?"

"Well…there's a lot of 'incursions' aliens who've tried to invade Earth, seems there's no actual start they're always finding more evidence of it. But what seemed to initiate it was a battle in Shoreditch in London in 1963."

"An alien battle in London."

"They were time travellers."

"Time Travellers?!" Jack exclaimed.

"Well we do know its possible sir."

"With a stargate and some wacky solar flare shenanigans. Why did they go to Earth '63? See Kennedy get shot?"

"Well…here's a picture of some of the destruction." Daniel flicked a button and on the wall showed a building where what might have been doors had been blown clean away, there were patches on the ground where black marks had been burnt onto it."

"Supposedly there were three forces, two looking for another alien's device, this alien was also a time traveller, he'd put this thing called 'a remote stellar manipulator' on Earth." Daniel finished looking at Sam.

"Carter, what's a…"

"Remote stellar manipulator." Daniel supplied at Jack's questioning look.

"Well…stellar is stars…so a device that manipulates stars? That's impossible."

"Did you not manipulate a star when you used a stargate connected to a black hold Col Carter?"

"Yes but…that was…actually that's a good point Teal'c."

Jack grinned and then wished he'd thought of that question to put to Carter.

"So is _that_ where all this starts where you know we split…?" Jack made some odd motion with his hands.

"No, sir, I don't think this universe is like any other parallel universe we've encountered before with the quantum mirror."

"So continuing on, from this 'Shoreditch Incident', which enacted the used the 'Intrusion Counter Measures Group' to coordinate the assault that occurred a few years later UNIT was set up. The United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, which as far as I can tell is sort of like the SGC…only with most of the world operating in some capacity."

"Even us?"

"Well…" Daniel trailed off.

"Daniel."

"Yes Jack?"

"What is it?"

"The US is a bit…proprietary…"

"Which means?"

"They're not a big part of UNIT and prefer to manage things themselves, they also refused to be a part of UNIT's other activities which extend to space travel and ships, which because the US won't be a part of don't know about."

Jack nodded.

"So Britain and Australia entered into an agreement in the late 80s and Australia's now got the biggest shipyard." Carter finished. "Bit of a turn around from our universe isn't it? From what they showed us it puts Area 51 to shame."

Jack listened as Daniel detailed the various things that happened in the 70s that he'd managed to read up on over the past few hours and wondered when they'd be going for some food.

--//

Jack leaned back in his chair, satisfied, that had been one good steak.

What made it even better was that they weren't sitting in a bar and grill somewhere outside of Cheyenne Mountain, but on a space ship, in an alternate universe heading towards a planet somewhere through some sort of space that he didn't really understand. But none of that really mattered, because it was a good steak, no beer though.

"So I guess you have questions that diplomacy didn't answer." Harry said leaning back and looking around at the four people who he'd just had an evening meal with.

He hoped that they didn't ask something complicated to explain, or that needed diagrams.

"How does…?" Both General O'Neill and Lt Col Carter said at the same time.

"Sorry sir."

"No Carter go ahead, I can wait."

"Sir?" She left the question hanging.

"Fine. What's with the red space thing." He said waving his hands around.

"That was sort of what I wanted to know, how does this hyperspace differ from other forms of interstellar travel?"

Harry nodded, of course he'd get asked this one.

"Do you want a simple and easy to understand answer or one where I need to draw diagrams and pictographs?"

"Simple." Jack and Daniel said together.

"Right, just a moment." Harry said pushing himself out of his seat and walking over to where there was some fruit.

When he returned he was holding a knife and an orange.

Samantha Carter eyed the orange curiously.

"So, just to set this straight, your ship uses some sort of engines that generate a hyperspace window allowing your ship to achieve intersteallar flight without all that mucking around with relativity?"

"Yes." Carter beamed. "But how did you know that our ship…you scanned the _Prometheus._"

"Yes and we compared your engines against ours and what we've seen before."

"_This_ ship has window generators, how is that possible, the variations between this universe and ours even accounting for the similarities the differences between should remove certain styles of tech…"

"Carter!" General O'Neill exclaimed.

"Sorry sir."

"But it is a good question Jack."

"Indeed."

"Certain areas on Earth are subject to massive temporal and dimensional rifts through which technology has been falling sideways through time and through space for…well a while when you get into time travel it's all really subjective don't you find?"

"We find? Carter?"

"You've had a lot of experience with time travel?" Samantha Carter looked like she wanted to interrogate Harry Potter.

Harry nodded with a knowing smile. "Yes, you could say we have more than our fair share of time travellers who range from the megalomaniacs right through the annoying manipulative and condescending."

"Oh yeah, been there." Teal'c raised an eyebrow at O'Neill's comment.

"Moving back to your original question. Hyperspace using a window generator is the tip of the iceberg." Harry said letting the question hang, he'd had both the detailed simple explanation and the complicated one of how it all worked. He preferred the simple detailed one.

Samantha Carter had a wondering look on her face.

"Ok, think of the orange as space." Harry said holding up the orange.

"You can travel through space but there was still going to be things you have to avoid and places you can't go."

"This is like your stargate explanation Carter." Jack O'Neill grinned.

Harry mimicked Teal'c expression and filed 'stargate' away for another question later.

"So when you use the window generators…" He peeled away the rind. "You're skirting the edges between normal space and hyperspace. Ever looked when you're travelling through hyperspace?" Harry shook his head with a chuckle. "Forgot your ship has _windows._ What can you see?"

"Streaks of blue, white and stars…oh…" Daniel answered.

"Right, so with the window generators you cut down some of the space you're travelling, it's still there and you still have a lot of sense of where you are in relation to real space and everything, switch off your hyperspace engines and you drop back into real space right?"

Carter nodded.

"They also take a huge amount of power in comparison to regular what you call 'sub-light' engines. Which is a bit of a misnomer, because the window generators aren't really light speed engines, but anyways…"

Harry briefly had a flash of amusement the first time he'd been present when some new Night Wolf recruits were told about magic and spaceships. A lot of them had an easier time understanding spaceships than magic, and Harry was assured in his belief that these people with the possible exception of Dr Jackson would be the same.

"So what's the red and black space?"

"That General O'Neill is hyperspace, in actuality. You travel using regular engines, cover more distance," Harry said as he finished peeling a section of the orange. "So you've got hyperspace, then what your ship skirts across, using its window generators, and regulars normal space."

"So what's the draw backs?" Harry looked over to General O'Neill. "If you're ship has three types of engines."

"Thank you sir…that's actually a good question."

"I try Carter."

"Well…the jump engines and jumpgates aren't any use for exploring, you need jumpgates or precise coordinates to lock onto to navigate your way through hyperspace. Once you're in you can only get out with a jumpgate or jumpengines. In order to pierce the gap between normal space and hyperspace you need a brief amount of energy and a particular element to catalyse it." Harry said quickly.

"So a few drawbacks then."

"The benefits are though less of a constant power drain on the hyperspace window generators, therefore less wear and tear on their component parts as well as power generation. It's also quicker and more direct."

"And with a jumpgate presumedly at our destination and one near Earth ships without 'jump engines' can go the distance without any interstellar engines." Carter asked more to herself. Harry nodded.

They were silenced for a moment as Harry peeled the remainder of the orange.

"About these alien invasions…"

Harry sighed and looked around for someone, anyone from diplomacy.

--//

_This chapter was going to go on for all of their journey to the base but I thought I'd stop it here and leave the rest and landing for the next chapter._


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: All characters, names, settings etc belong to their respective copyright holders, only Night Wolf and a few other things are of my own creation (but inspired from many things under copyright, which aren't mine).

**Chapter 04**

Harry sat down in the crew's mess and dug into his muesli.

Last night had been…he'd been thankful that he did need to sleep, and that Lt Col Carter yawned at least once.

Or that General O'Neill seemed as bored as he was.

Either way he'd managed to get away from Lt Col Carter without needing to go into gigantic detail about how the weapons systems or how to build a Thylacine.

But from their conversation thus far Lt Col Carter was seeming a quite smart person, but also quite linear…though she understood time travel well, Harry wasn't sure she'd like the idea of magic.

In fact Harry considered as he chewed, 'not like' was a little too light, she'd seemed quite curious about their method of power generation aboard the ship, but upon him skipping over the basic details had practically accused him of the viability of it.

When he'd asked _how_ their ship was powered…

_Flashback…_

"So how do you power your ship? It's got a massive energy washout around the ship…" Harry asked as he slowly peeled an apple having finished the orange a while ago.

He watched Lt Col Carter look over to General O'Neill who appeared to be staring off into space, or studying the furniture with some focus.

"We utilise a superheavy material that creates a massive amount of power allowing us to create a hyperspace window for interstellar travel, and as a result the rest of the ship's functions."

Harry resisted raising an eyebrow, that answer wasn't really an answer 'superheavy' could mean anything, well a group of anythings as far as he knew.

_Flashback end…_

Which was much more vague than his description, he'd left her description stay as it is.

He'd changed tact while she was thinking of another question to ask.

"_So how'd you end up here? The details?"_ He'd asked. All they really knew was that these people were from another universe, plus what had been gathered from Dr Daniel Jackson during his discussion with linguistics and diplomacy, of which he'd probably get a report of sometime today.

They'd been testing some new, or old improvement to their engine systems to vastly improve on their hyperspace technology.

It was only now that he was thinking back over their conversation that he gave some thought to _how_ and _what_ was said.

The implication from Carter had been that it was a new technology, but from what Jackson had said it was a discovery rather than invention. Given Dr Jackson's field that implied it was something he'd discovered and while these people had an archaeologist with them they didn't seem to be actively interested in researching multiple technologies, not based on their surprise at UNIT's reverse engineering and technology that they'd done so to.

They also mentioned the 'stargate' several times.

Harry was beginning to formulate his own ideas about this 'stargate', but also he wanted to have words with linguistics as to what they thought.

The term 'stargate' was one of those get out terms linguistically speaking, it had such a wide baring on a range of things both for cultures that had achieved some form of space travel and those who had impact from it.

Which meant that like just about anything it was context dependant and he was lacking in context for the moment.

Though he was relatively sure it wasn't just a euphemism, it was a tangible thing, something these people used, probably on a regular basis and he doubted it was a shrine.

Harry sat down in his chair at the bridge and looked at the multiple memos that awaited him.

There wasn't a huge amount for him to do SSC wise on the bridge, they were in hyperspace, basically heading toward their destination as far as things that they could encounter there were other UNIT vessels and their ally who were still working on the whole hyperspace thing.

In this situation following a battle or a serious encounter he generally revieved a bunch of memos from various departments telling him about what he should see and what needs to be done and then either follow them up or await a full report.

In this case he'd probably be following everything up unless…

"Harry."

"Colonel." Harry said to the Colonel Rogers as he walked onto the bridge.

"Come down to the medial laboratory I want you to see what they've found."

"Didn't we blow up his ship, with him on board?" Harry asked as he gazed through the closed bio-hazard doors at the well dressed man who was in a different set of black and gold trimmed robes to the Baal whose ship they'd destroyed the previous day.

He eyed the screen on the wall indicating the scans of the body.

"And what is that?"

"The question of the day Sorcerer Potter, Colonel Rogers." Professor Halliday said as she walked in.

Catherine Halliday, a woman in her mid 40s was a xeno-biologist on board the _Hattah_.

"But it's not the oddest of the day. These men all had similar entities within a pouch." She indicated the bodies on other tables around them, they all had a X shaped slits in the abdomen.

"That was the logo that Baal had behind him on his ship…" Harry shook his head looking at the body to his left. "One of the Baals."

"From what I and my team has discovered so far…" She indicated an operating table with another of the long snake…things. "They incubate them."

"Are they human?" Rogers asked.

"Probably originally, though there's obviously been a lot of genetic engineering to get this far."

"So how does it work…those things and him?" Harry nodded back towards Baal…two.

"We haven't begun to fully work it out, but from our initial dissection what it could be compared to is a highly evolved leech."

"A parasite?" Rogers asked. Professor Halliday nodded.

"Looking at the male with it within him and this one it seems they have a very tightly compacted brain and nervous systems interface structures."

Harry looked at the dissection table on the other side of the lab, it was behind a biohazard screen with gloves reaching into the casing.

"Do we need to up bio-security in here Professor?" Harry asked eyeing the case and then back to the bodies with the gaps in the adomen which weren't behind bio-hazard screens, through the lab they were standing in could be isolated from the rest of the ship if need be.

"These bodies have had the parasite removed Sorcerer Potter."

"And the security squad who encountered them?" Rogers asked.

"Full bio-scans and medical checks cleared them."

"Good." Colonel Rogers turned to leave, pausing at the door. "Have a short report written to send off asap for the ships cleaning up the battle, bio-security, handling the whole works."

"Yes sir."

Harry felt around the back of his shirt making doubly sure he was wearing one with almost unnoticeable flaps where his wings could come out without ripping holes in it as he walked along the length of the ship towards the front.

A moment later two long black wings were behind him as he walked further away from the gravity field that extended out from the engines around the ship.

He was walking towards the workshops and maintenance areas for some of the Thylacines, some of which were worked on in more normal gravity, but most were towards the front of the ship, and also to the forward guns and the maintenance there of as well.

By the time he got to the area around the forward guns, which were split between the port and starboard side of the ship there was practically no gravity, had he not had his wings he'd have needed to slip on a set of charmed coverings for his feet in order to stick to the ground.

The people who worked within this area had speciality shoes more suited to the task and during battle they wore a harness, treated and charmed to in an emergency or certain battle events hold them tight, or even against a wall.

"Sorcerer Potter."

They greeted in the central work lab set behind both forward guns in the middle of the ship.

What immediately hit him was the smell of burnt wood, which wasn't good, the parts that made up the forward guns had some magically treated wood as part of their function, treated to be practically impervious to being burnt.

"What's the damage? I've got a request here to disable all the control linkages to the forward guns." Harry said breathing deeply in the smells, he ignored a slight twitch in his inner ear, passing it off as nothing.

"That smell should give you some indication Sorcerer Potter, we a couple of the shots against the enemy's energy shielding caused massive feedback through thr linkages."

"Breakers?" Harry asked looking at the playback of the energy readings, it was a lot of energy that the enemy had shunted back their way.

"Cut in, and then blew, through the engagement we went through the primary, secondary and tertiary breakers, we've got the ancillary online now…but…" He trailed off looking at his colleague.

"But if we get into trouble and those blow we'll have serious problems. If we encounter something like that" He jabbed a hand at the screens. "And they do something like that when we're at constant fire the blow back would take out all the forward guns, control systems and all."

Harry nodded looking around, he felt another twinge in his inner ear as he turned around.

Harry did another circle of the room. Looking around he saw a canister of sealant and grabbed it.

"How many breaches have you had in here?"

They both snorted.

"Too many. We'll need to do a full scan around outside, there's probably sensors out and cracks we can't see." Harry nodded as he looked around and dug his wand out of a pocket and waved through a simple incantation a thin line of smoke jutted out from the tip.

Harry watched it begin to settle and evaporate while a tiny thin line curled away from the lab and down toward the port side of the ship, Harry followed it, and could feel the pressure change as he walked.

He aimed the nozzle of the sealant upwards and sprayed a hefty amount onto the wall, the foam that wasn't foam squirted out forming a tight seal along and through wherever the crack or breach was in the hull.

"Better get someone from your crew to get a few more canisters." Harry said tapping the empty canister he was holding and then frowned slightly. "Where is the rest of your crew?"

"Medical lab, or resting, let them have a late start." Harry nodded, he remembered passing by the main medical lab on his way to the bio-secure area of it. They had taken quite a few injuries, no fatalities though, thankfully.

--//

Archaeology was dependent on context, the more context you had the more conclusions you could draw.

The difference between a worn down butter knife and a worn down sacrificial dagger was context.

The context of Baal and his ship, his language and the weapons discovered on the boarding party did not make sense.

Doctor Liam Powell leaned back in the chair as he and his team worked through what they had.

Linguistics were working along side them as they together strived to establish some sort of context.

Doctor Jackson had been, cagey, though he and those in diplomacy had expected that, they would have been quite surprised if they shared all their secrets immediately.

Diplomacy had been acting as a buffer between the various departments on board the ship with their own questions to put to the archaeologist.

The subject of divergent, parallel and alternate universes was another interesting side along subject of xeno-archaeology that he found curious.

Doctor Jackson had spent much of the morning attempting to establish a 'divergent point' where their relative universe diverged.

UNIT had an encounter or two on record of this, relatively close parallel universes that had similar _yet different _elements.

This didn't appear to be the case in this instance.

In the instance involving _the Doctor_ and Professor Stahlman's 'Inferno' project there was, while not a specific point there was an traceable ideology involved.

From what Doctor Jackson and diplomacy had discovered thus far was that the separate universes were just that, very separate, alternate but not close.

Jackson did have a thirst for knowledge, or understanding. Diplomacy had furnished him with 'UNIT the early years', UNIT's history and its encounters up until the early 90s, which for the most part was devoid of any references to sorcery.

That in particular was something he agreed with, between diplomacy and linguistics, from their conversations with Jackson and sensor analysis' dealings thus far with Lt Col Carter suggested a person and probably universe without any elements of sorcery.

Or alternatively the idea of 'everything is quantifiable' was sacrosanct.

While that was the case _here_ to a degree, sorcery had its own elements of quantification, one that stood outside the rest.

"You seem in deep thought Doctor, I hope I'm not going to get a double digit number as an answer." Liam Powell looked over to the door where a man was looking over at him a slight smirk on his face.

"Sorcerer Potter. Yes, thoughts about our new guests among other things."

"I noticed." He nodded towards the rest of his department. "So what have you discovered about Baal, both of them."

He smiled, yes that was an interesting development. He turned around on his chair, nodding towards one beside him into which the Sorcerer practically fell into. Liam raised an eyebrow towards him.

"I've met General Jack O'Neill three times today, he seems to be spending his time in the lift."

Liam raised an eyebrow again.

"I don't know why, when I asked he just said _'This and that sorcerer, having a look around_'. I left him to it."

Liam nodded and gestured towards one of the screens on the wall.

"We've analysed a lot of the hieroglyphs on the wall from the transmission. We've run it through our Osirian database, and the Egyptian one. They are hieroglyphs, but they don't say anything, it's gibberish."

"Outlandish interior decorations?" Sorcerer Potter asked curiously.

"We asked Doctor Jackson about the design of the space craft." He hit a button showing a sensor read out and beside it a picture with dimensions of the great pyramid of Giza. "According to him they were originally designed to be able to land on pyramids."

"Seriously?" Harry asked staring at the picture, it wasn't the weirdest idea he'd heard, but designing your space ship to land on pyramids was a little bit odd.

"Sensor analysis has worked with us on this, we think this generation of space craft probably doesn't land very often, if it did there would be some traces within the craft." He tapped some buttons to show a close in scan of the base of the ship. "There is nothing that indicates a landing on top of something like a pyramid, in fact if it did it would need incredibly precise piloting to make it fit."

"I notice you haven't mentioned anything of the two Baals." Harry asked leaning back into the chair and looking around. Doctor Powell frowned slightly.

"Body movement, expression, tone, speaking level, linguistics have done a full work over."

"Results."

"They're not brothers, close relatives or a hologram of one or the other. The bodily expressions are close, too close to be brothers or any such like, but likewise there are minor differences in expression, in directions of their troops, even though we only have one example of the latter with the ship based one." The communication replaced the ship and pyramid on the screen. "Kree!".

"Any idea what that means?"

"Only about a thousand." Harry chuckled. "Only because the other Baal who boarded the ship also used the expression in a different context and inflection." He showed Harry the camera footage of the other Baal ordering his troops around, his 'kree' was quite different.

"So what are you thinking? Some sort of transformation a polyjuice effect?"

"Medical lab came back as negative on that, aside from the parasite." He looked to Harry.

"Yes, another interesting thing, something to bring up with our guests I think."

"I don't think polyjuice would be in affect, I agree with your supposition regarding them."

"Lt Col Carter you mean? Yes, I am concerned about her…"

"Ability to rationalise sorcery?" Liam offered.

"In a word yes. What about Doctor Jackson you and your department have working with him more so over the last 16 hours or so."

"he's an archaeologist, we're meant to be able to look outside the box."

"And if the box had been transformed into a rabbit?"

"Then you trace the rabbit back as far as it can go, and wait for it to turn back into a box." He said in mock seriousness.

"_Then you trace the rabbit back as far as it can go, and wait for it to turn back into a box."_

Daniel puzzled on that sentence he'd overheard, on his way back from the 'diplomacy department'. He was determined to think of it as overheard rather than eavesdropping.

Even so, it didn't make an awful lot of sense, even less than in his normal life.

Unless it was a metaphor, he got plenty of those, but it hadn't sounded life one.

"Hey Jack."

"Daniel, what deck?"

"Jack."

"Daniel."

"How long have you been standing in the elevator?" Daniel asked as he leaned against the opposite wall, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Most of the day. I stepped out to have lunch."

Daniel considered the doors, that hadn't begun to close yet.

"Jack."

"Daniel."

"You think that this is all that it appears?" He asked not quite understanding what he was asking himself.

"Haven't we had a conversation like this before Daniel, except you were all vague and ascended-y?"

Daniel nodded as the doors closed. "Maybe Sam's got some ideas."

"Carter? She's been holed up in one of the rooms tryin' to work out what went wrong with the _Prometheus_."

"Still?"

"There's a lotta things that could go wrong, supposedly a lot of them must have gone wrong."

"Teal'c?"

"Gym."

"There's a gym here."

"Yep, toward the back of the ship."

"Yeah…something to do with the gravity or something." Daniel shook his head and watched the doors open to where he was pretty sure the crew's mess was. "Wanna get a bite to eat?" Daniel asked looking out down the corridor.

"Yeah."

--//

Harry watched Dr Daniel Jackson and General O'Neill talking in the lift, he wondered if it was such a fantastic idea to let them walk around…un-attended. But diplomacy had made a decent argument to the Colonel so they had…not free run, but they could wander, as Daniel Jackson and General O'Neill were, well the General had spent by Harry's reckoning a lot of today in the lift.

--//

Sam watched in fascination as the people around her worked, talked and discussed the battle they'd just recently been in.

She had told herself that she'd come to 'battle analysis and strategy' to get a look at the sensor data from Baal's ship and _Prometheus' _arrival, but was told she should have gone to sensor analysis.

But having got her data she'd returned to where she sat, watching the strategists go over the battle from a huge variety of angles and sensors data points.

Of course the SGC had strategists in Area 51 that went over mission reports and the like.

But on-ship strategy was handled by the people on the bridge or wherever. _Prometheus_ and the _Daedalus_ didn't have dedicated strategists for battle nor after the fact analysis.

But these people had a whole 'department' and by the flurry of activity that had been going on for most of the day did this a lot.

Watching _Prometheus' _contribution, which this ship must have got the data before they used the _jumpgate_…Sam was still trying to find out the specifics, despite Captain Potter's description last night.

Speaking of…_Sorcerer _Captain Potter had just walked into the main room.

Sam still wanted to ask _someone_ about that. She'd found some others on the ship with the Sorcerer designation, but it didn't seem to have any correlation with their rank, some from what she'd been able to understand didn't have any rank other than _Sorcerer_ if it was a rank. She made a note to talk to Daniel about it later.

"So what have you got for me?" Harry asked leaning against a chair. He'd left battle analysis to the end of the day, simply because they made it interesting and it was easier to get all the other departments out of the way before.

He'd just been in matter transmission, honestly…they'd suffered less damage after going up against a small battle group of Cyberman ships.

Actually that wasn't true, they'd had a few breaches but the damage had been regionally specific, in this encounter they had ship wide damage to a variety of systems. Now he wanted to know how and why.

Peter Carrière was one of the heads of battle analysis and strategy aboard the ASCS _Hattah,_ generally during a battle they called it 'strategy' following the battle it was 'analysis'. Though it was over all called 'battle strategy'.

He looked over as Sorcerer Captain Potter walked, he appeared to have been doing his 'rounds' that he usually did following a battle, it obviously hadn't been well, it looked as though he had some fire suppressant foam on his shirt.

"Bad day?" Peter asked. Sorcerer Potter nodded. Peter gestured towards Potter's shirt.

"Yes. I was just in matter transmission, their repairs will take a little longer."

"No transmats?"

"Not if you want to come out alive." Then he amened "Or at all."

"Alright…" He trailed off going around to his computer and gesturing at the wall of screens and those working at them. "Starting at the beginning and the opening of hostilities." He hit a button, all the screens within their vision displayed composite display featuring the _Hattah _and the Thylacines facing off between the three vessels. "During the opening attack we didn't take too much damage…as you can see while we're taking fire." He hit a button and the incoming fire from the ships was highlighted blue. "The weapons fire that made the distance was only a fraction of the output of the enemy vessels. We've found the source of those. The ships seem to contain" a single long range weapon, we think this is what contributed to the massive damage we took."

"Why only one?"

"Given its placement, what xeno-archaeology and linguistics and the large volume of fighter craft it held this quite probably would be used for orbital based assault on a planet or similar structure."

"So when we got in close I guess they've got close-in weapons systems?" Harry mused looking at the close up of one of the ships.

Peter nodded clicking a button to bring up two close up images of the top and base of the ships with areas highlighted.

"We're still breaking down how many per ship, but each ship appears to be exactly the same, there appears to be some where between 50 and 70 weapons platforms for close-in assault."

"Hell. Why didn't we loose more Thylacines? With that amount our losses should have been…?" Harry hated asking questions like those, he knew their Thylacine pilots were better than great, but with those sorts of number stacked against them, three times over during some of the battle they shouldn't have escaped with no casualties.

"They appear to have to expect a less manoeuvrable craft, looking at the Thylacine's interactions with their craft and scanning their craft." Peter jabbed a thumb backward.

Harry turned around an looked at Lt Col Carer for a moment, she was sitting at the back of the room, pretending to study her laptop.

"Hmm?" He asked prompting Peter through his explanations.

"If you look at the three craft side by side, ours, the enemy and theirs their battle strategy makes more sense." Harry stared at the two scans of the craft and a silhouette of a third craft which was obviously a scan from the _Prometheus_.

The enemy's craft and _Prometheus_'s what had to be fighter craft, while not the same and only vaguely similar did betray what they were designed for, and how the designers thought. Looked at it side by side the Thylacines looked I a very different class.

"Where did the scan from _Prometheus _come from?" Harry asked casually, while they hadn't really done any close in scans _deliberately_ a scan even a silhouette meant that they had at least directed a curious glance at a part of the ship.

"Sensor analysis sent it through, part of their scan to be certain their ship wasn't leaking fuel…"

"The energy washout." Harry murmured to himself, but made a note to ask sensor analysis just how much spying they'd been doing. UNIT had strict rules about doing any spying against their ally…but in the strictest sense these people weren't allies. Though he guessed diplomacy would have their own thoughts about what this piece of…information might constitute.

"Have the xeno-archaeologists and linguists seen this data?" Harry gestured at the ship comparison.

"Not yet."

"Send it to them, it should help to build a profile of the enemy. You were saying…"

"Judging by the craft design they were definitely designed for or in an atmosphere, therefore while our initial analysis' of they movement is quite good they're not as good as the Thylacines. It also appears that for space based assault they seem to expect manoeuvrability on par with these craft, or similarly sized and specked."

"So we out thought and manoeuvred them."

"Simply enough. The bad news is because of this when we came in close as our ship is slightly less manoeuvrable than the Thylacines…this data is a combination from ours and RSCS _Indefatigable _and ASCS _Wilandra._"

Harry watched as the the composite scanner imaged played through, it was completely different watching a composite image post-battle than watching a variety of scanner levels, icons and wire frame representation and power distribution tables during-battle.

He cringed as he watched the variety of hits that the _Hattah_ took courtesy of their close-in 'encounters' with the ships. It seemed luck that they hadn't had a catastrophic breach.

"I guess that explains the multiple systems that were damaged."

"Things certainly didn't improve with our impromptu journey into Jupiter."

"Your department suggested it!" Harry exclaimed.

Peter shrugged in a non-committal manner.

"We've yet to begin the analysis of that jaunt. Suffice it to say we took more damage."

"Which allowed the boarding party on board." Harry added.

"Yes…we're still looking into that, but with the jammer system still operatine we're having trouble establishing a base line for them."

"They'll be fixed…probably in the next 35 hours or so…supposedly. There are still power systems that are safer on than trying to turn off." Harry gestured his shirt. "Or alternatively help in an attempt then start a fire."

--//

Harry leaned back in the chair enjoying the scent of the piece of fresh out of the oven blueberry pie.

Sometimes tomorrow they should arrive at their destination. The previous night he'd eaten a rather quiet meal with Teal'c, Lt Col Carter, Dr Jackson and General O'Neill were chatting with Peter Carrière and some people from linguistics, or alternatively they hadn't seen him when they'd walked in.

Teal'c obviously had, but he didn't ask any odd questions.

"_Sorcerer_, mind if I join ya?" Harry looked up from gazing into the steam and enjoying the scent of the pie to see General Jack O'Neill standing above him holding a similar piece of pie.

"Course not, please." Harry gestured opposite him.

"Carter said you've been spying on us."

Harry didn't bother even pretending to appear surprised, she had been in the same room yesterday, he was marginally surprised she or her superior hadn't come to see him of the Colonel sooner.

"I've had words with our relevant departments General, it was merely a by product of making sure that your ship wasn't going to blow up on us."

"And?" The General asked, looking up from the pie.

"It's not going to blow up." Harry paused.

"Well that's good, Carter says it's going to be hard enough putting together what we've got now which is in tiny pieces."

Harry nodded, from what Lt Col Carter had shared it didn't bode well for a quick escape for them back to their own universe.

"Noticed you had a Baal and his jaffa budies in your infirmary. You wanna be careful of the snakeheads." He said with some distaste.

Harry nodded, he didn't know that General O'Neill had wandered into the medical lab, or perhaps he was just good at listening and finding out stuff.

"We're very carefully when it comes to bio-hazards. You sound as if you know him, and not in the comic sense."

"You know, torture, resurrection, the like."

"Been there, done that, the tshirt isn't as amusing as you'd think." Harry commented. The General grinned.

"Isn't it? You've been through it all?"

"Torture, witnessed a resurrection, death, disaster, end of the world sorta stuff you?"

"Same same, saved the world, you know." Harry looked at the General, and caught a look, just behind the eyes. It was a look he sometimes caught himself having when he remembered that night, those visions, the past as they say was a different country, but every so often you see someone else who visited.

--//

"Pre-landing checks?" Colonel Rogers asked, they were approaching the jumpgate though they were still in hyperspace.

"Landing struts check out, antigravs are operational, though at about 50 percent give or take."

"A heavy landing then Lt Stroud."

"Yes sir, approaching jumpgate coordinates."

"Signal _Prometheus_ tell them to stand by to exit hyperspace."

"Sir." Katrina answered.

Harry looked across the bridge, their guests were once again on the bridge, Lt Col Carter seemed eager to see the exit out of hyperspace.

"Easy Carter, should be just like going in."

"Which wasn't much." Daniel caught the glance Sam gave him. "I mean it was…different?" He said looking over at Jack who shrugged.

"_Prometheus _signals ready."

"Activate jumpgate sequence."

Harry watched as the red of hyperspace was overlaid with a red vortex.

"Order _Prometheus _to follow us in a 3 minutes. Take us out."

Sam watched the main screens, it was red…and then they travelled out, she was just able to see the colour of the jumpgate vortex, a deep slightly pulsing blue.

Then the ship moved around to come into orbit above the planet.

"Nice…"

Daniel nodded at Jack's assertion and wondered if now would be a good time to bring up his ideas that he'd been having, he meant to bring it up earlier this morning but…Jack had been wondering around and Sam…Sam went off to do some final calculations…or something.

To be perfectly honest with himself the concepts that he'd begun to develop…he didn't want to tell Jack and Sam especially, and if he _was_ honest he didn't tell them this morning. Because they'd think he was nuts.

Plus the sentence "Hey guys, I think this magic thing is for real" just didn't quite fit for him, plus there was no physical proof, but from what they'd shown him and what they hadn't there was a lot of suggestion.

Daniel put it aside in his mind as the planet came into view.

Harry smiled slightly as they came into a high orbit over the planet.

It didn't have a name, it had a designation, but no name. The UN, UNIT and Night Wolf were…generally against naming planets, there would need to be committees etc and probably things such as disclosure or some such.

The planet held Night Wolf's first Research Base, a permanent research, development, repair, restock and just about everything base for UNIT/Night Wolf away from Earth. It differed from the Research Outposts in that it served multiple purposes and was very permanent, while many of the Research Outposts were more or less permanent they served a singular (or duel) purpose, Base One was many things.

The planet had two major landmasses, one close to the northern pole and the second in the southern hemisphere that stretched to the equator. There were also a variety of small islands dotted around the planet.

"_Prometheus _has exited hyperspace."

"Signal from Base One control."

"Put it through."

"_Colonel Rogers_." The man on the screen smiled wildly.

"Air Commodore Henderson, you received a message from Night Wolf Command?"

"_Yes Colonel, we're transmitting landing coordinates to you now. The ship you're accompanying, the __Prometheus__'s coordinates are with those. Pad 15 for it I believe."_

"Data received sir." Harry said.

"See you on the ground when we land sir."

"_Received Colonel._"

"What landing pad have we got Harry?"

"Pad 4, Base One orders us to land prior to _Prometheus_, just in case they need further landing guidance from us." Harry said as the coordinates appeared on a layout on the main screens.

"Very well, contact _Prometheus_ send them the coordinates, tell them to follow us down following our signal when we contact them." The captain paused to do up the belts on his chair and touch a control beside his chair. "All hands prepare for landing."

A tone went out around the ship.

"Ready to land Colonel."

"Take us down Lt Stroud."

The forward screens changed to views of the exterior of the ship, overlaid with sensor data.

As the ship descended into the gravity well of the planet Harry could feel the various bits of gravity pulling at him, there was the gravity field the ship generated pushing and pulling against the gravity from the planet.

Harry gazed over the power levels for the antigravs as they descended further they were all online but operating at half capacity, but they were on a steady decent, aiming for their landing site.

Harry ignored the few warnings he was getting they were mainly about breaches along the hull, but now they were within an atmosphere weren't so much of a worry. Though he though he could practically hear the wind whistling around the ship, then he looked sideways and thought for a second he was Jack O'Neill whistling to himself softly.

"Deploy landing struts." Colonel Rogers stated as they approached the landing pad.

You could feel the effect of drag the landing struts had on the ship, especially with the less than full power antigravs in operation.

Technically speaking they didn't have to use the antigravs to land, they could do it completely without them, but it wasn't as easy to land a space ship that wasn't exactly small without them.

Then there was a thump as the ship settled onto the landing pad.

"Solid landing sir."

"Good, power down antigravs, engines, begin power down of reactor. Signal _Prometheus_ to make their way down, continue to track her as she comes down."

"Sir." Harry said as he unbelted to the belts around him and flicked the screens from the forward view to sensors tracking the _Prometheus_ as it made its way down through the planet's atmosphere.

Jack rolled his shoulders around as they watched _Prometheus_ swoop down into the atmosphere of whatever this planet was called, _if_ it had a name, no one had called it anything.

He could practically feel _Prometheus_ as it swooped over head to wherever it was meant to land.

Then Captain Potter said it had landed.

--//

_There it is, journey to the planet done._

_A bit longer than I had intended (I had meant to finish on time…and then didn't)._

_I was going to go further with them getting off the ship, going over to Prometheus, but it didn't structure very well so this chapter ends here._

_Next chapter (should) have in no particular order; meeting Night Wolf ally, the SG1 gang seeing magic…and a variety of other things (I haven't written as yet)._


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: All characters, names, settings etc belong to their respective copyright holders, only Night Wolf and a few other things are of my own creation (but inspired from many things under copyright, which aren't mine).

**Chapter 05**

Harry looked up at the vast shapes of the two ships looming over the landscape.

They were like two huge buildings, castles even, like those he'd seen and spent his youth in.

He'd seen more here, when there were combinations of both British and Australian ships, four or five landed on the ground for all to see.

But these two the ASCS _Hattah_ and…the other one, the _Prometheus_, an alternate universe ship. He'd seen plenty of examples of parallel universe things, but not a whole ship, it looked…odd next to the _Hattah_, more than wrong looking at them at a distance gave a different perspective.

Harry took a sip out of his large insulated mug as he looked around the landscape he was in. He and his squad wouldn't be moving out for a few days, not until the Royal Space Core Ship _Defiance _returned from their round trip to Earth with supplies and personnel for the base.

"Lieutenant Wales."

Harry stood up saluting. "Sorcerer Captain Potter sir."

"At ease and all that Harry."

Harry nodded at the man, who had large black wings hanging behind him, that was how he'd first met the man from UNIT.

Ever since he and his family had been…assaulted by _them_ he'd wanted to know more, then after the whole _not_ Iraq thing, one of his superiors must have put in a word with UNIT, or maybe he was just the right person in the right place.

But this beat the hell out of having paparazzi following him all the damn time.

But it was good, being apart of the army and _still_ coming out here, it had been some new thing, supposedly, so as not to make the _Americans_ suspicious of UNIT numbers increasing, it wasn't good to make the Americans even more paranoid.

"A nice crisp day Harry." Harry Potter said as he leaned against a tree close to where Lt Harry Wales was sitting, looking at the two ships.

"Yes, sir." He said, Harry had initially when he'd risen up above people where he was a superior officer had thought it odd initially.

"Call me Harry, _Lt_ Wales."

"Sir."

Harry sighed stretching his wings a little.

"So what you and your squad doing here Lt?"

"Waiting for the _Defiance_ to do a pick up on Earth, clearing out a planet, we're to stay to protect the xeno-archaeologists there, sir."

"Interesting or just long dead things?"

"interesting sir, according to the scans there's Cyberman activity, Command wants the archaeologists in there before it's gutted."

"Dangerous then, time war stuff?"

"Sir." Lt Wales confirmed in the affirmative. Then after a pause. "Sir, what're the alternate universe people like?"

Harry Potter was tempted to say many things then said them. "Slightly annoying, complicated, inquisitive, a little bit ridged minded, though probably not dangerous." He said with a smile, the Lt chuckled.

"That's an upside sir. How ridged minded?"

"Sorcery Lt." Harry beat his wings gently. "One of them that I met was quite scientifically minded, logical I think you'd say. Not sure how they're going to cope."

"You could turn into a raven sir, that did it for me."

"Yes…but you had an earlier encounter." Harry said in a dark tone.

"And you and UNIT dealt with them sir."

"Yeah, I've been wondering if anyone was ever going to forget what I did."

"Blowing up a sun does do that sir." Lt Wales chuckled.

"I'm going to meet them today, official and the like" Harry said looking over at the two ships on the landing pads. "My captain said that I've got a rapport with them."

"And getting them to understand magic sir?" Wales asked curiously.

"Maybe I should just turn into a raven, hard conversing with them though…" Harry smiled to himself, though it would curtail any questions from Lt Col Carter. "I could do something like this…"

Lt Wales looked up at Captain Potter who had a fire ball in his hand, and was tossing it back and forth.

"Play to their strengths sir, they're US Air Force, or scientists then USAF. Play it to their level, though meeting our allies should be interesting also." Wales said referring to one of their allies who was on the Research Base currently.

Harry turned to look at the Lt.

"I know that everything goes pretty fast but they've been here for less than 24 hours how'd you find out they were USAF?" Harry asked slightly surprised.

"It's, it's written on the side of their ship sir, pretty damaged around it, my squad and I went for a jog close to it last night, checked it out."

"Anything notable Lt?" Harry asked curiously.

"Significant damage, though any airlocks or any entry to the ship from the ground were firmly locked down. On its underside there appears to be a device for landing troops, but…" Wales trailed off.

"Go on Lt." Harry said curious, he admitted to himself that he hadn't had a close snoop of the _Prometheus_, at least not in person.

"While the airlocks appear solid, it probably wasn't designed to withstand a ground assault."

"It most likely has energy shielding, certainly the energy readings suggest they could."

"Also, sir…" Lt Wales paused Harry nodded. "The most susceptible point of entry are the windows."

"Yes, we noticed those also, very much a tactical and structural weakness and a particular oddity according to the _Hattah_'s battle analysis."

"Like putting windows in a submarine sir."

"Yes precisely Lt. Well, I should be going, thank you Lt for as ever an enlightening talk, here." Harry pushed the fireball gently over to the Lt. "Use it to keep your drink warm." He said and turned and ran through the trees before transforming into a raven and flying back toward the main base.

--//

Lt Col Samantha Carter tried to work the knot out of her shoulder as she worked.

She looked across the engineering room to where General O'Neill and Daniel were sleeping on make shift beds. Teal'c was off helping to clear the cargo decks.

The reason Daniel and the General were in here, apart to 'keep you company' a lot of the crew's quarters had taken a broadside sweep from the Baal's ships and breached several decks, to space, plus the structure around them had been weakened during their journey to this reality.

What that meant was in short the crew's mess and briefing room and several other areas of the ship had been turned over to emergency accommodation.

That was part of what they were meeting with Sorcerer Captain Potter with later this morning to talk about, hoping that they would put some of the crew up amongst other things.

Sam was still trying to ignore, with some part of her conscious mind the information they had discussed last night over a meal of not as bad as usual MREs…

_Last Night…_

Sam leant against the console the remains of an MRE beside her and enjoyed the feeling of _not_ sitting in a chair staring at a computer screen, ok, the General ordered her to sit down here, but that wasn't the point.

"Ok so Daniel, we're all here you wanted to talk to us, what's the big conspiracy?" Jack asked looking at Danny, he looked, concerned, worried, or he had indigestion from the particular weird batch of MREs the _Prometheus_ had on board. Carter seemed fine with them, and Teal'c had finished off at least two. Jack was still hankering for the steak aboard the _Hattah_ and briefly considered walking the distance, if it weren't for the long elevator ride, then the stairs, then the walk…the transporters _still_ weren't working.

"O-ok." Daniel said after a while of leaning against the wall that overlooked the sublight engines.

"After first day on board the _Hattah,_ after I'd worked out if our universes had a 'divergent point' it was unlikely to be found within out histories in any meaningful way."

"Divergent what?" Daniel looked over at Jack and then to Sam.

"It's a point theoretically where this universe and our own split off on alternate or parallel lines."

"Which you couldn't work out." Jack asked Daniel.

"There are similarities, their Egyptian and other similar cultures were influenced by aliens called _Osirians,_ we know of course _Osiris_." Daniel frowned at the memory. "Both had influence on their respective cultures, though in the _Osirian's _case there only seems to be fleeting references, except to Sutekh who supposedly was held in Egypt until the 1910s and then something happened."

"Don't we know a Sutekh?" Jack idly wondered.

"We knew him as Seth O'Neill."

"That's right, slimy snake that he was." Jack pointed to Teal'c across the room.

"You were saying Daniel?" Sam asked.

"After I'd worked this out they left me be, to work it all out. These people really have had a lot of alien invasions."

"Yeah you said Daniel, we should be lucky?"

"No, I mean yes, but that's not only what UNIT dealt, deals with. In the mid 1980s there was some alternate society that had a war, primarily in Britain but recruiting from around Europe, a supremacy group from what I could tell from the files I…"

"Snooped?" Jack offered.

"Investigated." Daniel pressed on. "But during and after this well it was in some ways a war but in others a skirmish, this section really expanded from just alien technology to…" Daniel trailed off not even himself sure how to say it.

"Too?" Jack asked staring at him as he opened up a candy bar.

"Sorcery, magic." There was silence as his team mates and Jack stared at him, Daniel would have looked down at his shoes if he weren't sitting on the floor and his shoes were already in vision.

"Did you not once say Daniel Jackson that the Goa'uld use their technology to mimick magic, would this not be the same thing?"

"That's a good point Teal'c." Sam acknowledged while stumped for what exactly to debunk about Daniel's comment.

"Sorcery, Daniel? As in _Sorcerer _Captain?"

"He's not the only sorcerer on board that ship, there are a few there."

"And you think magic Daniel?" Jack stared at him. "Of all the answers, wacky command structure, extra ranks, magic Daniel."

"Jack, just listen." Daniel removed a sheath of pages from a pocket.

"Okay, in the mid 80s in London there was this group, it's noted as several names in their database, 'Death Eaters' being prominent."

"Nice."

"Anyways, the words that stand out 'wand users', 'sorcerer' there are notes on mass murder of lycanthopically affected individuals but that's only the start."

"Lycanthropocally affected?" Jack rolled the term around as he said it.

Daniel tried to smile as he said the explanation. "Werewolves Jack."

Daniel watched as Jack seemed to restrain himself from swearing. "Daniel, werewolves?"

"Yes Jack, werewolves. Come on you didn't see anything weird while journeying up and down the depth of the ship?"

Jack fell into silence. "Sam you're quiet."

"Daniel, I don't want to say you're wrong, but magic can't exist, in a rational universe magic can't exist, it's a scientific impossibility."

"Are we not in another universe Col Carter?"

"We are Teal'c but the rules of this universe must be close enough, even if the histories are divergent."

Teal'c made a why movement, or Sam just took it as to continue her explanation.

"If the physical rules weren't similar things such as our engines, gravity generation, weapons systems and other things like that shouldn't be able to function, they all rely on universal constants in physics and if 'magic'" She made air quotes "existed and that's a huge if, they would show some indication of it." Carter paused for a second. "What about Clarke's law Daniel?" She asked.

"Any sufficiently advanced form of technology is indistinguishable from magic? Yes I had thought of that, but these people already have 'sufficiently advanced' technology so why would they need to put it down to magic?"

Some silence ensued and was broken by Jack O'Neill.

"I did catch a glimpse of a guy with wings."

Daniel grinned. Sam stared. "I…sir?"

"He was walking from the elevator, had long black wings comin out of his back, walking around, no one else on the ship thought it weird."

"This really happened sir?"

"Yes Carter it _really_ happened."

"A man with wings."

"There's was also two rooms filled with plants." Jack added.

They continued along various lines comparing what they'd seen until Carter stated firmly. "With all due respect Daniel, sir, until I see proof of 'magic" she made air quotes again "Anything you've described and we've seen can be explained with science in a rational universe."

"Even creams that clear up burns in minutes?"

"Even that sir, we've seen similar things in the past."

"Men with wings Sam?" Sam nodded to Daniel but refrained from saying anything. There were numerous explanations for that, none that she wanted to voice at the moment.

But as they each turned into sleep, Sam started to think on what they'd talked about…and it was preposterous what they'd said, magic was an easy way out to explain complicated things such as quantum substructure and super strings and quantum theory.

_Present_.

Sam looked at the sensors, she had decided that she wasn't spying, just looking around, and to more precise making sure that they worked. It was the first step to getting the Asgard transporters fixed.

Another team was working on the rings, so they wouldn't have to go through the elevators and ramp to get to the ground from the ship, but it would be better to have the transporters working.

She was amazed at the size of this 'Research Base', it appeared to be the size of a large university, with most of the buildings being a single storey, or large barn to warehouse sized buildings.

There appeared to be a definite distinction between one portion of the base and the other, where the ships were landed and the buildings that appeared connected to this were separate from the other buildings.

Sam called up the visual sensors which were quite damaged, she could see around the general area of the ship and a some distance away she stared at the screen trying to fix the resolution as she zoomed further away from the ship…then she blinked.

What she had focused on was two men in BDUs who appeared to be talking. Though it was a pretty blurry picture.

One of the men appeared to have a large wide backpack on. A large black pack on. A pack that hung down his back.

Sam reached over to the keyboard keeping her eyes on the screen and hit the record button.

Then men turned to look at her and she recoiled back before remembering where she was and how she was…watching them. Then they appeared to finished and, Sam wouldn't have believed it if she hadn't seen it, even now she wasn't really sure what she'd seen. The man could have just walked into the shadows, there were a lot in the early morning light, but what she thought she saw, what she really didn't want to think about what she saw was the man run a short distance and, transform into a small what looked like a bird and flew away.

Samantha Carter leaned against the chair, there were plenty of reasonable explanations for this, it was a very blurry low resolution image for one thing, it could have been anything, they could be holograms.

Which she decided made sense if this was a research base, especially as Daniel had said had some dealings with magic, holograms would be an integral part of that.

Leaning over the console she called up the recording she'd just made to look at the footage again.

A small box came up on the screen 'Error; recording corrupted due to Error'.

"Dammit!" She said loudly to herself shoving the console.

"What where, What's the emergency?" The General looking up from the ground holding up a zat glaring around.

"Nothing sir, just…nothing."

"Carter? Is it breakfast time already?" He asked rolled back onto the pillow.

Sam looked at the clock, they had a little under an hour before they needed to meet _Sorcerer _Captain Potter. Though she still hadn't quite worked out how their ship time related to the planet's rotation, without the sensors working she'd had to guess, until they got an accurate reading from someone on the _Research Base_.

"Yes sir." She sighed staring at the error message. "It's about that sir."

The General made a noise.

"Danny, Daniel." Sam looked around the console as she heard Daniel make a noise as a pillow impacted him.

"Jack why'd you do that?"

"So it'd wake you up Daniel." He said pulling himself into a sitting position.

"Next time we came in the engine room I'm grabbing my mattress."

Sam didn't want to say anything about the fact that his mattress had caught fire and then been jettisoned when their quarters had breached.

--//

Harry enjoyed his time after his conversation with Lt Wales flying around in the cool morning air before gliding down to Landing Pad 15 which was the furthest away from the others for good reason, it was the Quarantine Landing Pad used in the case of a ship needed decontamination or such like, it could be isolated from the rest of the base via force fields and complicated wards that could snap up in a moment, there was apparatus in place to scan and decontaminate the ship positioned there, amongst other things. But it was also kitted out the same as the other pads in addition to all the biohazard technology.

As he glided down he swiftly and easily transformed back from a raven to standing on two feet, without his wings and then waited looking up at the ship.

Harry agreed with Lt Wales' assessment, the _Prometheus _like the _Hattah _hadn't come through the battle unscathed, though there appeared a but a lot of buckling along the length of the ship, nothing structurally flawed, but some of it he guessed must have come from the transition from their universe. He also noticed what must have been the thing for landing troops.

It was a circle almost unnoticeable set against the hull of the ship.

Harry was just starting to formulate guesses as to how it worked when it slid open and a five large rings dropped to the ground.

"Okay." Harry said to himself. Then within the rings light flashed and the rings raised themselves back up to the ship revealing four people standing there. "Right." Harry said to himself and walked over to greet them. As he covered the distance between where he'd been waiting and where they were he wondered how they could actually be usefully; they couldn't be used in a mobile battle, the ship would need to be stationary to drop and retrieve and if they were a means of dropping troops, there would be a maximum number to be able to fit within the rings diameter.

Harry dismisses his wonderings for now as he reached thr group.

"General O'Neill, Col Carter, Dr Jackson, Teal'c."

"Sorcerer Captain Potter, morning." Jack smiled at him.

"Shall we?" Harry motioned toward the building between them and the rest of the base, which contained a variety of scanning equipment and other such things to deal with biological contamination, none of it was in use as the _Prometheus_ had been scanned thoroughly over the night for any biological, chemical, radiological, psychic or any other such contamination.

"So's this your only offworld base?" General O'Neill asked as they walked along.

Harry considered the question for a moment, turned around so he could face them and continue to walk backwards and talk to them, Teal'c raised an eyebrow as he did so.

"UNIT's got 18 Research Outposts, they're operated with a main purpose, mining, research into a specific thing, things like that. This is our first multipurpose base."

"What does that mean exactly, if you've got 18 of these 'Outposts'?" Jackson asked curiously.

Harry nodded for a second and briefly wished that he had someone from diplomacy around to do all of this explaining things, or alternatively he could just stun them and throw a book at them, to read.

"Here we can land ships, make repairs, this is also the best stop off point on the way out to the rest of the universe" Harry waved a hand around the sky above them. "It's also used as a main restocking point other than Earth, Research Base One also is a training and research base, they have students from Earth who come to learn off of Earth, training and the like." Harry raised and eyebrow at Col Carter's fish impression as he spoke.

"You have students, young people here?"

"How young?" General O'Neill gave him a weird look, Harry couldn't quite define it.

"University level students."

"Sciencey people." General O'Neill muttered to himself.

"No, 'sceiencey people" Harry made air quotes and looked backwards as he continued walking. It was fair distance, from Landing Pad 15 to the meeting room that he'd been asked to bring the representatives for their meeting. He wasn't sitting in, which he thought was quite good. "Generally have their own things to get into. But back in the late '90s…well the UN reasoned they couldn't keep plucking people from important research places and whatever without raising some eyebrows. Plus the a lot of sciencey people" Harry continued using the General's term. "Can't get their head around the whole 'other planets, sorcer…" Harry looked at the assembled people before him and trailed off. "And all the other stuff. So no it's not just sciene people. The university people spend a month or a couple of months here between semesters, or during their studies, you'd have to ask them, I only know a few people, a friend of mind takes some of them out on digs."

Jack looked over at Daniel at the word 'digs'.

"Digs I'm sorry?"

"She's a xeno-archaeologist, only real way to learn is in the field, be it killer ghosts, robots sent to kill you from the future, or particularly deadly dust left as a trap by a long dead race…or time winds ravaging a moon's surface, various aliens staking a claim to a good source of information, genocidal killing machines determined to lay claim on their own future history, you know." Harry said as he counted off the various things Hermione and many of the xeno-archaeologists the _Hattah_ had assisted over the last few years.

Harry turned around to walk forwards as the people from the _Prometheus _lapsed into silence as the looked around them as they walked, the Research Base had been planned more or less so you could walk easily enough around the 'university' part of the base with ease, though when it rained you did need an umbrella.

"So _Daniel_ has something he wants to know."

"Thanks Jack." He muttered.

"Sorcerer Potter, I mean Captain Potter, I umm, on board the _Hattah_ I. You, this universe…"

Harry rolled his eyes it was worse than when Mrs Weasely had asked if he'd been shagging Ginny.

"Doctor Jackson?" Harry asked curiously, when he'd been with Molly he'd offered her some tea, lacking tea though Harry settled with his name, failing that a hug, hopefully the name thing would work.

"Yes. Magic."

"Nice Daniel."

"Magic." Harry repeated and locked gazes with Lt Col Carter.

"Yes, Daniel suggested that your Earth might have 'magic' or 'sorcerer' in it." She confirmed.

"Yes." Daniel nodded.

"Yes." Harry confirmed and continued to walk.

"What'd ya mean? Yes it exists?" General O'Neill asked incredulously.

"Here we are." Harry nodded at one of the buildings that he'd guided them to.

"What?"

"Where you're having your meeting General O'Neill."

"For crying…what about this sorcery thing?"

"We can talk later."

"No." O'Neill crossed his arms.

"No?" Harry looked between them, Lt Col Carter had a pained expression on her face as though she dealt with this sort of behaviour on a regular basis, and had learnt to live with it.

"Not until you explain what you just said."

Harry nodded. "Right, there's this theory, or law called Clarke's Law."

"Any suitably advanced form of technology is indistinguishable from magic, yeah, covered that one."

"The reverse is also true." Harry added.

"Any suitably advanced form of magic…" Daniel started

"Is indistinguishable from technology…" Carter finished. Harry opened the door and motioned them in.

"When you come out, I'll be waiting here for you." Harry smiled to them as they walked into the meeting.

"That went well." He muttered to himself as he watched them walk in.

--//

"That went well." General Jack O'Neill said as they walked out of the meeting.

"Indeed, most enlightening." Teal'c agreed as he followed them out.

Jack had let Daniel and Carter do most of the talking about help and whatever, though he'd had to close the meeting after Carter had asked about 'magic' and received an answer for her question.

They'd met two people, Air Commodore Henderson in charge of the 'military side of things' from what Jack could tell, the ship's maintenance, supplies and all that stuff and a lady Professor Justine Wheatley who seemed to be in charge of the whole 'campus', she was there to deal with them for accommodation and whatever else.

They'd decided on provisional support, pending an official agreement once the ship engineers and scientists got a look at what brought them there.

Carter had only begun to work out which doohickie had broken the ship, in between fixing the things like the power systems (so they didn't explode) and weapons (so they didn't fire on their own) and the transporters (so they didn't have to transverse the ship every time they wanted to go for a walk) she hadn't even started on the Ancient drive, thing.

Jack hadn't realised such a time had passed until a 'late afternoon snack' arrived, then they continued to talk. Well Carter did the talking, techno-speak to the Air Commodore and the Professor who both seemed to understand three quarters of half of what he didn't understand two thirds of the time what Carter was saying.

Then it looked as though Carter managed to do what he did, derail and piss off their hosts.

"_We were just wondering, Sorcerer Captain Potter was going to enlighten us on the matter. There's some suggestion that you believe in magic?"_

_The Professor didn't even miss a beat._

"_No, not believe, it exists, you don't know or don't have it in your universe?" _

"_No we don't." Daniel said._

"_How…are you sure it's not just some advanced technology, we've seen some pretty advanced technology in our universe that can mimic the appearances of magic."_

_Professor Justine Wheatley looked across the table at Carter. "No Lieutenant Colonel Carter, it isn't some sort of 'advanced technology'."_

"_We didn't mean to suggest otherwise." Daniel said quickly._

"_No. Sorry, It's just, would you be able to give us an example of this 'magic'?"_

"_Colonel Rogers has informed me that Sorcerer Captain Potter is your liaison, he is a fully qualified Sorcerer and will be able to assist you in most matters Lt Col." Air Commodore Henderson said leaning back into his chair._

"_However, I'll set up a time tomorrow for you to meet our sorcery lecturer on base, you'll be able to discuss and explain the basics of sorcery, spells and rituals, runes and rites, apothecary and potions. You might even get to see some transmogrification and transmigration." Professor Wheatley smiled kindly to them._

_Carter just stared at the woman as though she or Carter herself had slipped off the edge of the universe into a world where…but Carter's expression said that she seemed to be already falling down the rabbit hole._

"_That'd be great, Carter and Daniel will love it. Won't you."_

"_Yes sir." Carter responded automatically._

"_Yes Jack._

"_Well we should wrap up here, Sorcerer Captain Potter will be instructed to show you the accommodation and we'll begin with the scientific and engineering assistance midday tomorrow."_

"_Right, come on Carter, Danny." Jack said as he stood up._

"_That went well."_

"Daniel, Carter you alright?"

"Hmm, yes sir. Just, the ease with which she said those things, like she was talking about physics and chemistry, it's fascinating really. We've never encountered anyone so, casual about the whole advanced technology element."

"Magic." Daniel corrected.

"What Danny?"

"Advanced magic, not technology."

"Yeah, right, whatever. We got what we wanted."

"Not so O'Neill."

"Buddy?"

"Air Commodore Henderson and Professor Wheatley did not agree to provide any material support, even when you pressed the issue."

"Yeah but we're getting people to come and look."

"Analysis." Daniel added, who seemed deep in thought.

"Yeah." Jack pointed. "So where's the _Sorcerer _Captain, they" He jabbed a thumb back. "Said he'd be around to show us back."

"Perhaps the meeting went on for such a time that Sorcerer Captain Potter was ordered elsewhere." Teal'c said looking around at the sun

"We can find our way back Teal'c can't we Carter? We know do know where _Prometheus _is, Carter?" Jack looked over to her.

"Yes sir." She said looking around for a moment.

"_Prometheus_…" Jack prompted then looked around as he heard a crow of a bird.

"Sir?" Carter asked following his line of sight.

"That's the first bird we've seen."

"Or heard O'Neill."

Jack watched as the black bird flew down over them and around in front of them before holding itself into a 'stall' motion in front of them, coming almost face to face with all of them.

Then something impossible happened.

Jack was okay with impossible, Carter managed to do impossible things all the time, blow up a sun, travel in time, fix the Stargate, fix alien technology, avert planetary wide disaster, save the world.

This was another sort of impossible that he hadn't quite been ready for, sorcery, magic and all that 'stuff' seemed okay, a few rabbits out of hats maybe a good disappearing trick or some wacky levitation.

But not this, this wasn't just hat and rabbit.

The bird seemed to blur and morph, dropping down and stretching and within less than a second a man with bright grin eyes and an amused expression was standing before him.

Then the man frowned.

"Lt Col Carter are you okay?" He asked in that weird accent of his.

Jack looked over to Sam.

"I, that, that's…" She trailed off, shaking her head and staring into the middle distance.

"Sorcerer Captain Harry Potter." Teal'c supplied.

"Hi." He said waving.

Jack threw an arm over Carter, who was in some sort of intellectual shock and the other arm over Daniel's shoulder's who was in some other sort of intellectual shock shock.

"Got any beer on this planet?" He asked addressing the Sorcerer Captain and trying to ignore what he'd just seen.

--//

_Sorry this chapter took a while to get out._

_I had most of the particulars of the chapter written and right, but it was the pacing and some of the minor parts which didn't fall into place until now._

_The Harry in the opening paragraphs is Lt Harry Wales as in 'Prince Harry', Harry Wales encountered the whole 'magic' world first hand from the death eaters way back in chapter 21 of __UNIT: Night Wolf – Beginnings_

_He met Harry Potter in an 'off screen' meeting (which may or may not be written at some point)._

_­_


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: All characters, names, settings etc belong to their respective copyright holders, only Night Wolf and a few other things are of my own creation (but inspired from many things under copyright, which aren't mine).

**Chapter 06**

Jack groaned and twisted around on what he was lying on.

His mouth was dry and he had a headache, usually that meant he had just been zatted or rendered unconscious by some unfriendly guys from another planet.

As he stared up at the roof and as sensation returned from sleep it turned out to be neither of those things, he was actually lying on a comfortable bed, and the dry mouth and headache was recognisable, just not in the recently zatted sort of way.

"Beer." He muttered to himself as he pulled himself out of the bed and to the bathroom which he vaguely remembered existed across the hallway to relieve his bladder that hadn't felt so full since the whole Loki cloning sleep for ages incident. _That_ had been _way_ too long to go without emptying his bladder.

Jack walked out of the back part of…wherever he was and found himself in a nicely proportioned area joined to a kitchen, he looked around, on the second pass he noticed Teal'c watching the flatscreen TV that dominated the back wall.

"Teal'c buddy." He said, Teal'c raised an eyebrow at him.

"O'Neill, you are feeling well?"

Jack stared, he was sure that Teal'c was teasing him.

"Fine, T, fine, just felt like I've gone toe to toe with a keg and a zat gun, where's Carter and Daniel?"

"Still asleep O'Neill." Jack nodded as he walked over to what looked to be a small kitchen area, on the bench there was a bowl of fruit, that wasn't there last night. He had a flash of memory, of using the beer bottles to make the symbol for Earth from the Stargate, they'd more than enough.

"Sorcerer Captain Harry Potter arrived earlier this morning and removed the bottles…" Jack turned around as Teal'c hesitated.

"What'd he do now?"

"I observed him enter with the fruit and coffee."

"Coffee!" Jack looked around and found a large plunger and a back of ground coffee behind it and started to search around the kitchenette for a kettle. "The what?"

"I do not believe he knew I was observing him." He hesitated again, Jack turned back to him.

"Teal'c?"

"He removed something from his front pocket changing one of the bottles into a bag and removed the rest, leaving the notice." Teal'c nodded to the piece of paper next to the fruit.

"What does it say buddy?" He said staring at the kettle, willing it to whistle so he could wake up and remove the last vestiges of the previous night, what would the general say? Then he remembered he was the General and he should know better not to drink the local brews. But then…oh crap.

"That Sorcerer Potter, he turned into a bird."

"On the contrary O'Neill he turned from a bird into a man."

"And then?"

"And then Col Carter, Daniel Jackson and yourself drank the beer provided by Sorcerer Potter."

"Right. Right."

"Col Carter partook in much of the alcohol O'Neill."

"Right." Jack nodded it all flooding back as the kettle burbled and something clicked near it, he emptied most of the water into the industrial sized plunger.

"What'd the letter say T buddy?"

"That he will be around at 9 am. But we are free to walk around the base should we wish to."

Jack looked at his watch, it was a little past 7:30 in the morning.

"Time for some snooping I think T…" Jack said as he breathed in the steam come out of the spout of the plunger and grabbed an apple out of the bowl and walked off.

Teal'c listened a moment later as O'Neill started banging his fist on Daniel Jackson and Col Carter's doors and took an apple himself and waited for his team mates to arise.

--//

Daniel dragged a hand over his face and took a sip of the coffee, and it was great coffee, brilliant in fact.

It still didn't excuse Jack for waking him up, especially after all the beer he'd been plied with the previous night, admittedly he'd had some trouble with what he'd seen, what they'd all seen.

But it wasn't unprecedented, they knew there was at least the possibility of some sort of biological transmogrification. But actually seeing it was another thing, there wasn't any technology involved, there didn't seem to be anything involved it was…magic, for want of a better term. Though, Daniel thought looking over at Sam _she_ really did _want_ a better term, or alternatively a whole explanation to explain the reality of their situation, which was why she was probably obsessing over the kettle.

"Carter! Does it really matter how the kettle works?"

"Sir, there are no wires no thermal element, there's nothing except this switch, that doesn't seem to do anything." She said holding up the kettle as though it defied the laws of physics.

"Except boil water Col Carter." Teal'c added.

"Which is what a kettle should do. Carter." Jack fixed her with a glare.

"Yes sir?" She said snatching her gaze away from the kettle.

"Drink the coffee get your boots on and lets have a look around before _Sorcerer _Captain Potter comes to get us, I want to have snoop around." Jack noticed the slight twich Carter had developed at some point, probably after last night to the word sorcerer, or magic. Two things or one and the same Daniel would probably say that she couldn't explain, _yet_. Though she'd tried last night, despite the beer.

Outside was cool, not enough for frost to form on the grass or whatever passed for grass on this planet, but enough.

Jack looked up, they were close enough to see _Prometheus _in detail, and it didn't look any better this morning than it did last night, a lot of damage, which wasn't good, Carter said something about that.

"So Jack where are we going?"

"For a wonder Daniel, they said we could do that yesterday in the meeting, anywhere unlocked we can go, right?"

"Right Jack, what are you trying to find in your 'snooping'?"

"Maybe something that powers Carter's 'magic field'?"

Sam looked up. "Sir?"

"That was one of your theories Carter, last night, after the shock wore off."

"Sir…I want to apologise about that sir, I…"

"Strange comes in all shapes Sam, we don't have to accept it all off the bat first time." Daniel said stuffing his hands inside his jacket.

"Yes but Daniel. Bird. Man." She put her hands together and then turned her palms up. "Without any technology it's impossible and there wasn't any technology around that I could see."

"Yeah Carter you went through all this last night, before your 'magic field' theory."

"Sir?" Carter looked slightly confused and then nodded. "No that wouldn't work, because from what Sorcerer Captain Potter and the Professor and Air Commodore said it's part of all their operations, it's just impossible."

"Perhaps we imagined it." Teal'c asked. They stopped and looked at him and then to Daniel.

"I suppose it's possible." Daniel started.

"There, see Danny's got the right idea." Jack pointed.

"But unlikely Jack, we all saw a bird turn into a man." Daniel said it again, as though trying to make certain for himself.

Jack shook his head as they approached what looked like a set of greenhouses.

"So what's the idea behind it Carter?"

"Well sir it's not my field but according to the sign it was an aquaponics experiment, and from the look if it an experiment, there was a control group and three others in the experimental group."

"That's fish Carter? With plants."

"Essentially sir."

"Why?" He asked as they made their way back towards the buildings.

"I don't know sir, I suppose as an experiment it must be by someone on this base."

"Why don't we ever have fish off world?" He asked after a few moments silence.

"What about that planet where they served up those huge fish."

"That was shark Danny, totally different, I mean a fish, caught on a line."

"Like the fish that _weren't _in your pond?"

"Exactly." Jack pointed to Daniel.

--//

Harry brought the sword up to defend himself and twisted around away from his attacker.

His attacker's sword swooped around grazing him on the shoulder leaving a fine yellow smear.

"So aren't you going to say anything about the mental situation of them?" His attacker asked curiously moving away from him to better gage his reactions.

"Is this continued curiosity or trying to get ahead in comparative cultural sociology Rebecca?"

"So?" She asked innocently and leapt out to hit him with the tip of her sword, Harry flung himself back seemingly in an impossible and uncontrollable backwards motion, however landing on his feet before disappearing into a dark mist and reforming in front of her.

"Hey, I thought you said sorcery would be cheating?"

"Natural ability, and that was last time, what about you?"

"6/2.5 vision."

"Speaking as someone who used to need glasses Rebecca Adeyemo that is some advantage." Harry said and quickly leapt out striking three blows to her torso, legs and back leaving fine orange streaks on her.

She stared back at him as he stood back the sword held behind his back and he was smiling.

They continued to fight quickly, though in a playful determined manner.

"So?" Harry asked as they circled. "What's on the timetable today?"

"Aside from my aforementioned comparative cultural sociology?" She said and struck out with her sword Harry spun anti-clockwise batting her sword away from him like a spinning fan.

"Aside from that?"

"Got a class with Professor Wheatley working on my psi-ability."

"Telekinesis improving is it?" He asked curiously. She grinned.

"Yeah, though I don't think I'd win in a fight with you relying solely on that."

"Better than on Earth though."

"Yeah." She nodded watching him swing the sword around as though it were a cane.

Night Wolf had discovered that some psi-abilities were able to be used more easily by some people away from Earth, however with others their abilities were stongest while on Earth, or in a near Earth orbit.

In most cases one psi-ability, for instance telekinesis did not lend the person to another form such as telepathy.

However groups of psi-abled people could concentrate an affect.

--//

"Oh my…" Carter said stopping on the path.

"What is it Carter? Oh."

"Interesting." Teal'c commented.

The spectacle they were watching were two people, fighting each other with what looked like sword, which wasn't out of the ordinary, but the speed and fluidity of their movements was.

Jack continued walking intent on a closer look.

They were fighting on a large expanse of grass, or the local equivalent.

"They must have some sort of residue on the swords to leave the marks." Carter said to them as they walked.

--//

"We've got company." Rebecca said as their swords collided once more.

"Hmm?" Harry asked looked over and saw 'SG1' as he's heard Colonel Pendergast call them, though he wasn't sure if the General was exempt from the designation.

"Well are you going to make us known?" She said pushing him away against his sword.

"I suppose so." Harry said with a sigh, motioning with open palms at her. She nodded.

--//

Daniel watched as they the man looked over the woman's shoulder and looked over at them, he could tell it was Sorcerer Captain Potter from the intensity of his eyes.

They started walking towards them as he and the others continued their walk. He shoved his hands further inside his pockets.

There was sand in the corners from who knew which planets, still along the edges of the pockets.

--//

"What would you say if I proposed an experiment Rebecca?"

"Depends what sort." She said as the walked casually toward the group.

"The learning type."

"Fine."

"When we get close enough throw your sword into the middle of the group."

"And predict what they'll do?" She turned to him gauging his expression.

"Precisely, you are the one studying sociology."

"As long as I have your permission Sorcerer _Captain_ to potentially unexpectedly assault a group of visiting people, from another universe no less."

"I take full responsibility. Count to ten and then throw it towards the gap between the guy with glasses and the General."

"The one with grey hair?"

"Yeah."

Ten…

Nine…

--//

Jack couldn't hear what they were talking about as they approached by the _Sorcerer _Captain was studying them curiously.

Then the woman chucked the sword at him.

--//

Harry watched curiously as Rebecca threw the sword at them, the General's first move as to his waist, where traditionally a gun would sit.

Lt Col Carter, moved just as quick, but moving herself out of the line of fire.

Dr Jackson ducked just as Teal'c caught it, raising an eyebrow at them.

"What the hell are ya doing?"

Harry smiled at General Jack O'Neill's accusation.

"Sorry General, I trust no one was concerned."

"We were not Sorcerer Captain Harry Potter."

Harry could see the questions broiling over Rebecca out of the corner of his eye.

"Sorry, I take full responsibility for that. This is…"

"Rebecca Adeyemo." She said looking at Harry who smiled.

"She's a third year sociology student from the University of Otago."

"Where?" General O'Neill asked.

"New Zealand Jack. The south island."

"Thank you Daniel."

Harry looked as Rebecca looked at her watch.

"Well I should be going, Harry, I need to get in some reading _and_ writing for my first class. I'll leave you with the star man." She smiled at him as she walked off.

"What is the purpose of this weapon Sorcerer Captain Potter?"

"Fun, training."

"You fight many aliens with swords Captain?" General O'Neill asked.

"On occasion, percussive weapons aren't practical for zero-gravity, projectile weapons aren't safe for space going craft or structures, energy weapons can be dicy in volatile environments. This is a good training tool, it has based on sorcerery." Harry noted the slight shake of the head in Lt Col Carter. "You're still trying to rationalise it into your theories Col Carter?"

"I am?" She asked oddly.

"Last night it was the a 'physics manipulation device that would allow for the appearance of 'magical' interactions with solid matter'."

"When did Sam say that?" Daniel asked.

"Last night." Harry responded.

"Last night?" Jack repeated.

"When I brought round a late evening supper for you." Harry looked across them, Teal'c nodded, Daniel was also nodding slowly.

"I remember you coming round." Daniel said vaguely.

"You did?"

"Remember the hot rolls and soup?"

"That was good soup." Jack responded. "But that doesn't mean Carter's point is any less valid, and why did you throw that at us."

"Thank you sir."

"I was curious to see how you'd react. How about I make it up to you, a fight?"

"A fight, against Teal'c? Buddy?"

"It would be interesting O'Neill."

"It's your funeral Potter."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "If you'll just let me reset it Teal'c." Harry said a hand out to Teal'c who relinquished the sword reluctantly. Harry touched the hilt of the sword to his and the orange dust covering him fizzled and disappeared leaving him clean, this would happen naturally over about 10 minutes as the charm wore off.

He handed the sword back to Teal'c. "If you score a strike against me it'll show up orange on my clothing, yellow for me."

"I understand." He nodded down into a slight bow.

"Feel free to ask me anything Col Carter, you seem conflicted." Harry spared a look for Doctor Jackson who was digging his hands into his pockets. Harry clicked his fingers several times and formed a fireball in his hand and gently pushed it over to in front of Daniel Jackson, all four of them shifted their gaze between it and him. "You looked cold Doctor Jackson."

Harry then struck out with the sword hitting Teal'c lightly on the shoulder.

He stared back at Harry who smiled and then started moving around as Teal'c pursued him.

"Carter." Jack said staring at the fire ball in front of him.

"Yes sir."

"There's a fireball in front of us."

"Yes sir."

"Danny what're you doing?"

"Warming my hands." Daniel said as he moved his hands all around the fireball as though a magician would to throw off suspicion of wires.

"There aren't any wires are there Carter?"

"No sir."

Jack finally switched his gaze to Carter from the glowing fireball which seemed to have formed in Potter's hand. She was staring at the fireball, unbelievingly, seemingly trying to will it out of existence. In any other situation he'd have thought it impossible, but in this instance he was willing to try anything.

After about ten seconds of switching his gaze between the fireball, Carter and the fight only a few meters from him he wondered if he needed to slap Carter.

"Carter, Carter!"

"Yes sir?"

"Get over it, I can't have you going googly eyed everytime you see something like that." He jabbed a finger at it but recoiled back quickly. "Crap, that's hot."

"Jack." Daniel nodded toward the fight which had moved closer to them.

--//

Harry had to admit Teal'c was good and had been a fighter for a while, Harry cringed as the sword Teal'c was holding came into contact with his back.

These particular swords had charms on them limiting the force with which they came into contact when hit against a solid body, but you still felt the contact when it hit.

"I forgot to ask any rules?" Harry said as he walked backward slowly.

"Rules Sorcerer Captain Potter?"

"Guidelines, anything you think would be cheating?"

"You going to work your magic on Teal'c Potter?"

"I could General, but would that be fair?"

"Teal'c can handle anything you throw at him can't you buddy."

"Indeed O'Neill?"

"Very well then. I shall perhaps use this as a proving ground Col Carter?"

"What?"

"Serpensortia, engorio"

--//

Daniel blinked, and was sure that was Latin, but that wasn't the half of it, in fact he'd run out of measurements a long time ago, slightly after he'd motioned the fireball without jabbing it as Jack had done and it had followed his hand motion.

Two snake seemed to erupt out of the stick Harry Potter was holding, and then grew unfeasibly in size.

Then Potter hissed at the snakes and as he did so moved around at Teal'c slashing at him with the sword, scoring several hits in the process.

--//

"_Distract the big man, do not harm him_." Harry hissed quickly to the snakes before moving around Teal'c who appeared slightly stunned. Harry had been moved to use snakes mainly by the tattoo on Teal'c forehead, plus they were a rather shocking appearance he hoped would shock Lt Col Carter some what.

--//

"Carter?" Jack spoke out the side of his mouth. "Did I just…"

"Yes you did Jack." Daniel said from the other side of him, the snakes were moving back and forth in front of Teal'c looking menacing, what didn't help was that they were about 4 feet tall.

--//

Harry chuckled as he jogged away from Teal'c, who was staring at the snakes before taking a running jump around them to follow him.

"An impressive display Sorcerer Captain Potter."

"Best get rid of them though." Harry said with a smile clicking his fingers again and creating another fireball and then summoned the one near Doctor Jackson into one of the snakes and threw the other in his hand at them.

--//

Carter stared as the fireballs hit the snakes turning them to ash.

"I…that's….That can't be…"

"Yeah Carter, I get that, come on let's go listen to them fighting."

--//

Harry would freely admit to anyone who asked him that he was more or less playing, demonstrating to those around him.

If he was serious he could have incapacitated Teal'c quicker than he could say _Prometheus_. But that wouldn't have been fair, using even the most basic sorcery either wand based magic or other sorcery wouldn't have been fair or in the least bit interesting.

"You are not using your full abilities Sorcerer Captain Potter." Teal'c said calmly after he attempted to score another hit on him.

"No."

"No?" He heard Jack yell.

"But then Teal'c I can see you're not fighting me as hard as you would an enemy."

Teal'c bowed his head as though saying 'touché' to him.

"So fight me as you would _your_ enemy I can take it."

"Very well."

--//

Harry had to admit fighting Teal'c now was more of a challenge, but it wasn't much more, he'd learnt over the years to use all his abilities in a fight, Night Wolf taught you to think outside the square, in fact with UNIT and Night Wolf you usually forgot about the square and thought about everything around the outside the a cube.

There were only so many 'flashy' things he could do to surprise them, by them it wasn't Teal'c but instead the other three who had been following their fight, by what he could tell in the occasional looks and glances when Teal'c had been momentarily frozen by indecision, leg locker or blinded by light, Daniel Jackson appeared in deep thought though seemingly convinced. Disbelief was what reigned over Lt Col Carter's face she still seemed to be denying the reality before her, Harry wondered what exactly she did in other situations when the world didn't meet her narrow world view.

--//

Jack watched eyes wide as Potter seemed to jump up and kick out onto the air and summersault over Teal'c, it wasn't the most unusual thing he'd seen so far this morning but added to all the wacky things, gravity defying stunts for the fourth time was getting ridiculous.

"Carter?"

"Yes sir?"

"I'm starting to think, this magic, sorcery, whatever."

"Maybe it's real Jack, maybe he is a sorcerer?"

"Either that or we're all hallucinating." Jack looked as Carter's eyes lit up as _another_ explanation started to form on her lips.

"No Carter, we're not hallucinating."

"It's perfect explanation sir."

"Then which one of our messes up psyches dreamed up Sorcerer Captain Potter?" Jack pointed to the fight that had jumped up to warp factor 7. "Come on lets get closer to them."

"Is that wise sir they are…quite vigorous."

"I wanna listen to them talking Carter."

--//

Harry spared a look at his watch, this fight could go on for ages and he fancied some breakfast.

"I could keep fighting you for and age, and believe me I've fought battles that have raged longer than this, I've even fought what some called a war."

"Indeed?" Teal'c queried as Harry started an offence hitting back with the sword, hard and fast.

"But I won't. Because it gets a little tiresome."

"And this enemy Sorcerer Captain Potter, how did you dispatch him?" Teal'c asked him curiously, he had throughout their fight been asking him about his enemies, both recent and not so, Harry hadn't revealed anything detailed but vague pieces of information.

"I lured him and his followers into battle, fought him then I blew up a sun, destroying him."

--//

"And this enemy, Sorcerer Captain Potter, how did you dispatch him?" Jack looked to Daniel and Carter who made 'I don't know gestures' at him.

"I lured him and his followers into battle, fought him then I blew up a sun, destroying him." Then Sorcerer Captain Potter exploded, no Jack corrected himself he just sort of disappeared into a black mist and then nothing.

Jack suddenly became aware of how quiet it was out here.

"Well Carter got yourself a buddy, always knew there'd be other people out there that made a hobby out of blowing up stars."

--//

_I wasn't quite sure where to end this chapter, I wrote more to this scene, but I think I'll keep it for next chapter. As I wrote the rest of this scene and where everything was going I couldn't foresee a good place to end the chapter, so here is a nice place._

_In case anyone is wondering 6/2.5 is a metric measurement of visual acuity, the imperial equivalent is 20/8 (compared to standard which is 20/20, 20/10 is considered quite good)._

_Thanks for reading._


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: All characters, names, settings etc belong to their respective copyright holders, only Night Wolf and a few other things are of my own creation (but inspired from many things under copyright, which aren't mine).

**Chapter 07**

"You alright buddy?" Jack asked as he approached Teal'c and picked up the left behind bat.

"I am unharmed O'Neill."

"Some fight Teal'c."

"Indeed, I would like to know more of this enemy that Sorcerer Captain Potter fought."

"Well if he blew up a sun to get rid of the sucker then he must have had as good a reason as Carter did."

"Depends General O'Neill, on what Col Carter's enemy did to piss her off." Jack barely stopped himself from jumping up from the voice behind him he slowly turned around, there was no one behind him, there was no one around them as far as he could see, nothing.

"That's an interesting trick." Daniel said as he took the second sword from Jack and passed it to Sam who stared experimenting with it tapping it against her own clothing and watching the colour impart itself on her clothing.

"Not very original, a bit of a cliché" He shouted. "Voices on the air, that needs an old house on the edge of a village to work properly."

"You'd be surprised how close to the truth you are with that comment, except for the haunted part." Jack looked over to where Carter was looking at the sword, Potter was standing calmly hands behind his back, Carter didn't seem to have noticed.

"Carter did you notice him appearing?"

"No…sir." She said looking up her eyes wide upon seeing him standing there.

"A pretty impressive fight Potter."

"Why thank you." The he disappeared, Jack blinked. "Did you really think so, or are ya just being nice?" Asked a semi-sarcastic voice behind him.

"It was impressive Sorcerer Potter, very interesting." Daniel added nicely to him.

"Did it convince you Col Carter?"

"Convince me?"

"Of…" He disappeared again, blackness reforming next to Carter before becoming a person once more. "Of magic, sorcery…" he asked.

"I…" Carter opened her mouth.

Harry sighed.

"What else can I do, I could…" He grabbed a pen out of Col Carter's top pocket. "Turn this pen into a rabbit, and the lit into a hat."

Jack stared as Potter did what he said and the pen and lid morphed into a brilliant white rabbit and a likewise brilliant deep majestic black hat.

"Alternatively, how about a jug of water, and a tray to sit it on." Jack watched closely this time, Potter held a device, long wooden…Jack narrowed his eyes and refused to even think what he thought it was. Light shot out of the thing he refused to think of as a 'wand' and the rabbit and hat turned into a just of water and a tray.

"Here you go Col Carter, just to make sure it's not an illusion." He handed her the tray and placed the jug on it, then smiled.

"Impressive." Teal'c said.

"And for a finale…" He looked around and then smiled. "Maybe not."

"Maybe not what?" Jack looked from Carter who seemed to have switched from disbelief to attempting to fathom the reality of what she was holding.

"I'll save turning one of you into a mouse for later." He smiled, took the stick…the device, the long thin thing…Jack cursed himself and Potter, the wand…dammit, why couldn't the universe be normal and pointed it that tray and jug, he saw the light shoot across the distance between Potter and Carter the jug turned into a bright yellow yo-yo and then he re-aimed at the tray and it turned back into a pen.

Carter caught it as she was looking at the yo-yo.

"A yo-yo?"

"A crude way of determining gravity supposedly."

"Why came up with an idea like that?" Jack asked.

"An annoyance." He said simply. "Come on let's get some breakfast."

Jack watched as Carter mucked around with the yo-yo.

"Ok Carter I'll bite, what is the point of a yo-yo?"

"Well sir…if I knew how heavy this was, or could guess then I would know how fast it would fall down the string on Earth, then with that as a base line you do the same thing on a planet or ship, and by way of comparing the speed at which it drops…"

"You work out the gravity, I gotcha."

Daniel looked back to Sam and Jack, they were following Sorcerer Harry Potter, he was walking with Teal'c thinking.

"Do you think Carter will be okay?"

"With time Daniel Jackson."

Daniel made an indeterminate mmm noise.

"And you Daniel Jackson?"

"Teal'c? I'm…curious, that a society could develop with magic and technology is fascinating, we've seen technology as magic before."

"The Goa'uld." He answered.

"Yeah, but this…is something else entirely."

Jack was beginning to think he had this whole 'thing' worked out, actually that wasn't the case, but he was beginning to think that he could cope with it, without trying to understand every detail, he could just lean metaphorically back and ride the waves of weird.

Then they met…it, him, her…whatever.

"Sorcerer Potter!"

"Seeking. Nice to see you this morning." Harry smiled at Seeking Knowledge, Understanding and the Unknown as he reached out wrapping her in a half armed hug.

Samantha Carter, Lt Col in the United States Air Force was determined not to be amazed, she was determined not to be surprised, she was determined not to say anything…untoward. They'd met more unusual aliens before.

The Asgard for instance she reminded herself.

Jack stared at the alien it looked like a large 5ft high…slug. Jack was pretty sure he was doing an impression of Carter's fish mouth movements from before, a frankly he didn't care the universe, this damn universe had just stopped being normal.

Daniel looked at the alien, it had vestigial shell and some form of tail, bigger than a normal…slug with slightly blue skin.

"Seeking Knowledge, Understanding and the Unknown this is…" Sorcerer Potter looked over at them and blinked for a moment taking in their expressions.

"Doctor Daniel Jackson, General Jack O'Neill, Lt Col Samantha Carter and Teal'c, I apologise for the brief pause, Sorcerer Potter has just been showing us some elements of…magic." Daniel said in quick succession, blinking several times in the process.

Harry smiled over at Doctor Jackson as he stumbled through his introduction.

"A pleasure to meet you."

Jack stared, as the…person outstretched some sort of limb to him he looked at it for a moment before taking it and shaking the limb.

It was weird, on par with the first time he'd met Thor and his buddies.

At least they looked like aliens, _aliens_ aliens.

This, this was a giant slug he silently admitted to himself.

"So you're their allies that Potter's mentioned before."

"My people are yes General."

"You heading to breakfast Seeking?" Potter asked the person before them.

"No Sorcerer, preparing for my class" She, It, He…it sounded like a she to Jack looked around at them "I've got several additions to make to the course structure with our guests here."

"What is it that you teach?" Daniel asked curiously.

"Social analysis from an exterior social outlook, also introduction to Hith culture and a variety of other subjects, as the only on of my race on base here I cover several topics."

Daniel was still nodding as she, it, he slithered away.

"There aren't any more surprises you want to spring on us Potter?" Jack asked as they continued along the path.

"Have I surprised you thus far General?" He asked innocently.

--//

Harry turned away from lecture room where he'd left the Daniel Jackson, General O'Neill and Teal'c, Lt Col Carter was back aboard their ship assisting with the engineer and scientists they'd sent to perform an analysis and report on the state of the _Prometheus_ and what it would need to fix it. Actaully that had been happening for the last few hours.

"_Harry report to the top deck of the ship_." Said Colonel Roger's voice in his ear.

"Sir." He responded and disappeared, reappearing on the top, exterior of the ASCS _Hattah_ his wings out and extended, the Colonel Rogers was also out there, wearing some boots to give him stability against the wind at this height, Harry looked around him, the hull had taken significant hits during their recent battle.

"The initial report from the _Prometheus_." He said looking across the base at the ship in question.

The report looked like a list of hazardous materials, dangerous substances and CBRNs.

UNIT vessels had to conform to strict standards designed by UNIT in Geneva with regard to what substances were in their ships and account for the possibility that the ships might loose their hull, internal components or even explode within an atmosphere either Earth or another planet, therefore dangerous substances were kept at a minimum, of course it was impossible to remove them all but the more dangerous substances were kept secure or at their lowest rating.

Obviously the _Prometheus _had different priorities.

The captain took in his expression.

"Keep reading." He said as he watched the sun that was slowly sinking on the horizon.

The report made note of crystalline circuitry with notes that they had used their spares and would need to replace the damaged systems. There wasn't any further notes, indicative of an early report.

Then Harry got to the bit he assumed Rogers wanted him to see and why they were on top of their ship looking down and across at the _Prometheus_.

It for one explained the _Prometheus_' high power wash out on their sensors. While the _Prometheus_' hyperspace window generators and those used throughout the UNIT vessels seemed to have several common elements how they were powered and how they interacted with that power seemed to differ wildly.

The element that _Prometheus_ used this 'naquadah' to power the ship, hyperspace window generator, standard engines and everything else was far more unstable, powerful and downright dangerous than the methods through which the _Hattah_ and other ships were powered.

"Sir if these calculations are correct." Harry started.

"Then if that ship goes critical mass there will be a very large hole in this planet, most likely taking out the base."

"Yes sir." Harry looked over at the ship sitting innocently on the quarantine landing pad. "The quarantine systems?"

"Are calibrated to protect against several outcomes, an explosion of that magnitude isn't one of them."

"No I didn't think it would be." Harry muttered, the Colonel turned to face him.

"Well Harry you've spent the most time with them, what will they do if we order them to shut down their power plants pending an official review?"

Harry looked up from the computer screen, the Colonel was asking one of his hypothetical questions again of him.

"General O'Neill will be annoyed, but I think they'll understand if we explain the risks, though I think their main concern is getting back to their universe." Harry answered and looked back at the screen scrolling though for any indication of their universe transference device, or whatever they used to make the jump between universes, it wasn't listed.

"Don't try Harry, I already asked, whatever device they used is practically destroyed."

"Ah, that's going to be a problem."

--//

**1 month later…**

A month later and they were going to Earth.

Jack could hardly believe it had taken that long for them to be qualified to visit the home planet.

But according to Carter it had taken this long to work out what they could fix, what could be synthesised on the Research Base and what was unfixable.

The list of unfixable things had grown and grown over the last two weeks until it was a list rather than what he had hoped a sentence and a couple of comas.

There was still a team of 'xeno-archaeologists' working on what was left of the Ancient hyperdrive trying to work out what it was meant to do and what went wrong.

But they had to come to Earth to put forward a proposal to manufacture several components for _Prometheus_, as well as do some 'scanning' of various things, Carter wanted to check out.

"_SG1 report to the bridge." _Came the voice of Sorcerer Potter over the ship's intercom.

"Come on team lets see what they want." Jack said pushing himself away from the table.

Carter stared at the image of Earth, it looked the same as their Earth.

Sorcerer Captain Potter nodded to them as they walked onto the bridge.

She hadn't seen much of Sorcerer Potter after they'd delivered their report on the _Prometheus_ though it seemed more like they'd arranged to have this ship take them to Earth than chance given how many ships went through the Research Base that _Prometheus_ was on throughout the month they'd been stuck here in this universe.

They weren't much closer to working out how to get home either, that was part of the reason why she'd wanted to come here, to get some readings from other pieces of technology that had come from other universes plus find out about technology and information they had here on Earth about parallel universes that she couldn't get access to on the Research Base. There was also the issue of parts for _Prometheus _several parts they couldn't manufacture on ship or adapt from what UNIT has made available to them.

"Stand by for landing." Potter said, Carter made her way over to the seats to the side of the bridge as the ship descended towards Earth.

--//

_Many thanks for waiting, this chapter has been quite delayed._

_A variety of factors stacked up to the point where a week had passed and then two weeks._

_This chapter was half written to the point where 'Jack was beginning to think he had this whole 'thing' worked out', at which point the variety of factors stacked up preventing me from finishing the chapter. Most of the chapter after that was written in the past 2 days._

_The next chapter I hope to get out within a week, but it might take two like this one has, but as always I'll try to get it out on time._


	8. Chapter 8

General Lethbridge Stewart scrolled through the report again

Disclaimer: All characters, names, settings etc belong to their respective copyright holders, only Night Wolf and a few other things are of my own creation (but inspired from many things under copyright, which aren't mine).

**Chapter 08**

General Lethbridge Stewart scrolled through the report again.

It was actually a series of reports, requests and observations all concerning the alternate universe people, whom he would be seeing soon.

The report from Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter of the USAF _Prometheus _ was the report that would be part of the meeting today. It included several requests, some focusing on labour, manufacture and creation of parts to fix their craft.

Which was a problem, the reports had come in around a week ago, read over, passed through Night Wolf and a preliminary budget estimated for the parts, labour and manufacture of the requested parts.

Certain parts used for repairing UNIT vessels had been made available to the crew of the _Prometheus_ parts that could be absolved into the budget and other such like.

The requests in the report were parts that the USAF ship couldn't jerry rig, or adapt.

It wasn't a short list.

The projected cost of specialising and manufacturing parts for the ship numbered into the millions, if not more.

That was a cost Night Wolf and UNIT couldn't absolve for the benefit of the alternate universe visitors.

Night Wolf had a huge budget, compared to say the EU space program or the US's space program, it had a hufge budget compared to all military spending on the planet. Combined resources and expertise across Europe, Australia, New Zealand and parts of Asia.

Most of its budget was tied up in projects, more ships were being produced at the Gibson Desert facility in Australia and the Northern Highlands facility in the UK.

Cross training occurred bringing in military forces to serve off planet without full integration into UNIT followed the British Army's successes.

Mining and development of the jump gate system was continuing providing them a more efficient path between Earth and Research Base One.

All of which meant the budget was tied up, if he were to grant the USAF crew's request it would mean redirecting funds away from the many major and minor projects both under his purview and within the greater UNIT structure.

Something he was not willing to do, Geneva concurred with his and his team's assessment.

However he had agreed to allow them to Earth, where they could analyse UNIT's holding of other pieces of technology and materials that had come from other alternate universes in an attempt to garner any useful information to assist them in determining the process that landed them in UNIT's care in this universe.

Alistair looked over at his computer screen tapping a few buttons as he did so, there were currently two ships in orbit of Earth; RSCS _Audacious_ and ASCS _Onkaparinga_. The _Onkaparinga _had just received a matter transmission from the Gibson Desert facility, most likely the people from the alternate universe.

UNIT still needed to have a ship in orbit to receive and then send onward the matter transmission signal, be it via the teleport or the transmat.

There had been proposals left, right and centre over the past year or two, none of them were practical. A space station in orbit would solve a few of their problems, but in creating it would bring others, the Americans first and foremost would not take lightly an additional space station to the one they currently had their fingers in was the gist of the report from Geneva regarding that suggestion put to them from the Northern Highlands facility.

There had been suggestions from UNIT's moonbase facility that they could use the moon's position as a relay station, however the transmission equipment would not be able to be hiding from view, both on Earth and the moon, additionally the power requirements and other such things muted that suggestion.

It wasn't a problem of much concern, they more or less had a ship in orbit to facilitate the transfer, though on the occasion there wasn't there were more conventional (and indeed less than conventional) methods open to Night Wolf personnel.

Jack looked around, he felt a bit like a hockey puck, after they'd landed on Earth, underground, in Australia.

Why if they were going to the UK couldn't they _land _in the UK?

He'd asked that question to Daniel and Carter, but Carter was more interested in the facility they were in, which "puts Area 51 to shame", Daniel muttered something about jurisdiction. First time he'd heard Daniel use that sorta language.

Now they'd been through another teleport and through another _Australian_ ship the _Onkaparinga_ before landing here.

In what looked like a room, made of stone.

He saw Daniel reach out and run his hand along its surface.

"Well?" He looked at Daniel raising and eyebrow.

"Well what Jack?"

"Is it real stone?"

"Feels like it."

"Please tell me we're not in a castle Daniel."

"Without seeing the outside we could be anywhere sir."

"A positive attitude Carter, just what's called for."

"Yes?" Lethbridge Stewart answered the phone on his desk.

"_Sir, the alternate universe people have arrived."_

"Send them through Oliver."

"_Yes sir."_ Alistair smiled at the phone, his new assistant had served a year aboard the RSCS _Formidable _but decided he preferred his home to have a sky. But he was very organised and dedicated, and so Birmingham informed him, a flair with sorcery.

Alistair rose from his chair as the four people from the USAF _Prometheus_ walked into the room. According to Harry's report these people, with General O'Neill before he rose in rank had been their facility's flagship team. An air force physicist, an Air Force Colonel now General, a Doctor of Linguistics and Archaeology and Teal'c a man who defected from 'false gods'. Reading what Harry and others had gleaned from them over the past month was like reading about UNIT's early days when he Captain Yates, Sergeant Benton and Jo Grant used to save the world around a cup of cocoa, except they'd long moved past that at this point.

"General O'Neill.."

"General." He nodded. "Lt Col Carter, Dr Daniel Jackson and Teal'c. Nice place ya got here."

"Please have a seat General." Lethbridge Stewart gestured before him.

Alistair leaned back in his chair, photos and reports were one thing, but meeting them in the flesh added a whole other element to them.

"Thank you for agreeing to see us General, and allowing us to bring some scanning equipment to analyse the extra-universe elements." Lt Col Samantha Carter said as she sat down.

Alistair nodded, General O'Neill was watching him, seemingly waiting for him to speak.

"You received Carter's report then?" Asked General O'Neill after a few pleasantries.

Alistair nodded.

"While I and my superiors sympathise with your situation, and we have assisted in any means we can necessary." Alistair started, it was never good delivering bad news, but their mandate was clear UNIT and Night Wolf had priorities, if he took money and resources away from them to give away to these people, with nothing back it couldn't be justified.

"You're not going do it." O'Neill interrupted him and then added. "I know the start of one of those speeches, received more than one of them."

"Jack, General Lethbridge Stewart he doesn't mean that…"

"Quite alright Dr Jackson, General O'Neill is quite right."

"But…but…" Lt Col Carter started.

"A team has analysed your proposals Col Carter, the resources and materials that would be required to be diverted to create what you needed…well here." Lethbridge Stewart picked up a moderately thick bound together sheaf of pages from his desk. "That is a conservative amount of course."

"Surely you have some form of discretionary fund General?" Jackson asked curiously.

"Several in fact Doctor Jackson." He smiled. "But none to do what you ask, your request would have us redevelop a manufacturing system, switch over other systems and a complete overhaul on others, the costs would be astronomical, conservatively speaking."

Jack nodded mainly to himself, he knew this had been coming, bad news was always delivered with a smack in the face in person.

Good news came in little white envelopes, like his paycheque.

"Carter, Teal'c, Daniel, can ya give us a second."

"Sir." Carter nodded and rose to leave.

"I'll have you taken to begin your analysis Lt Col Carter." The General said picking up the phone. "…Birmingham, yes. Thank you."

Jack watched as his former team mates stepped out of the office.

"So what's it gonna take to get what we needed from that list?"

Alistair Lethbridge Stewart had been expecting the question, he and Birmingham had discussed the reports sent back to Night Wolf by those who had worked with the _Prometheus_ people thus far.

Jack grimaced as he followed the Sergeant to where Carter was, he should have been expecting what the General had said, he admitted to himself he knew that there was going to be something like that.

The bits and pieces that the _Prometheus _was made of cost a hell of a lot, the stuff that hadn't been 'borrowed' from the Goa'uld stuff they'd brought back cost an arm, a leg and probably a torose to manufacture and construct. He made a note to himself to carry more than one spare for everything on the ship the next time he went out on a jaunt.

That was _if_ they got back, fixing the _Prometheus_ was just one of the problems, no wonder General Hammond gave him _that look_ when he told him about needing to go with Carter and _Prometheus_.

He had been led through a long tunnel to the 'secondary storage facility', which he'd been told was outside of the main Night Wolf complex.

He found Carter and the others in a large room, large was putting it simply, absolutely huge was another way of putting it. There was a man standing near them, this must be the guy, Birmingham. He hadn't noticed anyone attach a rank to the guy.

He was tall and solidly build, he turned to look at him, and Jack met his stare, the eyes on the guy, it sent a chill down his spine like…well Jack couldn't really work it out, it was like the guy's eyes were yellow for a moment.

"You must be General O'Neill."

"I must?" Jack asked slightly uncertain. "I am, he said again."

"Yes. Sorcerer Birmingham." He smiled at him, Jack didn't like it. "Lethbridge Stewart thought you might want to have a talk with your team, I'll be waiting over by the door." He said before moving off, there was something odd about the way that man moved Jack decided as he watched him move, more like a black opps team on an unclassified mission, sneaky, sleek, powerful and confident. But people didn't move like that all the time, not without some effort, but that guy did it, seemingly without a thought.

"Hey guys." He waved as he approached. Carter was looking over something that looked like a clear bucket with some fluorescent tubes inside it, it was together with some banks of switches that looked like they'd been manufactured in the late 1960s.

But her various do dads were making impressive noises as she scanned or whatever it was she was doing, probably itching to take them apart.

"So what'd you want to hear the good news or the bad news?"

"You were able to convince the General Jack?"

"Daniel I am the Asgard's go to guy, I can negotiate."

"Yes Jack."

"What was the good news O'Neill?"

"We can get what Carter asked for."

"That's excellent new General." Carter said looking up, her eyes wild at hearing the news.

"Ah." Jack held up a finger. "I'm not finished, there's not so good news, also known as bad news."

"And that is Jack?" Daniel asked in a distracted tone from where he was assisting Carter,

"We're not getting a free ride." Jack said looking around him at all of the…stuff.

Daniel looked up and fixed him with a look.

"How much of a 'not free ride'?"

"Well…" Jack started, he was none too happy about his own deal, let alone telling the others, but he could understand, at least from running the SGC _how much_ everything cost. But he was still annoyed.

But it wasn't as though he could go to the USA and ask for a loan, Lethbridge Stewart had said he'd be shot, breach of the Official Secrets Act if he or any of his team, or anyone connected to the _Prometheus_ did that.

It didn't look like he was joking either.

_Sorry for the length of time this chapter took to get out._

_Various problems coalesced to become mountain sized._

_Plus I had some inspiration problems that stalled me in writing this chapter, and trying to work out where it was going to end. I decided to end it here, where it naturally formed an end instead of writing an extra scene (for which there are a few, so next chapter will hopefully progress quicker)._

_Thanks to all for waiting._

_(As an extra bonus, for the however long wait….a trailer for the next chapter…)_

Sam groaned as she stared at the door, the floor was hard, metallic, and smooth. She looked across at the others they were all in a similar condition.

She wiped the sweat off her forehead, her captors didn't seem to notice the heat…or the radiation.

But the pulsar had been too big an opportunity to miss.

She didn't even know if the ship had got away safely.

_(As ever this is a work in progress trailer and may or may not appear in the next chapter…but now that I've written it, it probably will)_


	9. Chapter 9

4 weeks later…

Disclaimer: All characters, names, settings etc belong to their respective copyright holders, only Night Wolf and a few other things are of my own creation (but inspired from many things under copyright, which aren't mine).

**Chapter 09**

**4 weeks later…**

Daniel let the rope slip through his fingers as he repelled down the…he took the time to look at what he was repelling down, to call in a monolith would be like called a Ra's spacecraft _just_ a pyramid. Plus there were a line of these not monoliths, that led to what Doctor Swenrick's team believed was a central point on this planet.

Daniel locked off the rope and took a breath of air from line out of his back pack, the air on this planet which didn't have a name, only it was part of the Phaester Osiris group and looked down and around him, there were other people just visible below him, he'd been dropped at the top a few hours ago…

"_So I just take your shoulder?" Daniel asked as he hauled on his back pack._

"_That's right." The man had a long pony tail and dark sunglasses that were more like goggles, his clothing was also dusted with sand. It reminded Daniel of Abydos. "You've been briefed on sorcery related translocation right?"_

"_Briefed yes." Daniel nodded, the briefing had come a short time after they'd agreed to Jack's agreement. Not that they really had a choice, Jack was the General and all that, technically speaking he didn't have to do or agree with what Jack said. But if he didn't Daniel didn't think he could put up with Jack annoying him to do it._

"_It's simple, I'll take you up to that one, we can't get a good resolution on the sensors at this distance and Night Wolf said you're an expert on Egyptian languages, that whole Goa'uld thing no doubt." He smiled, Daniel still couldn't place his accent, and it was annoying him, he could have asked, but he should know, even in another universe. 'Too much time fighting aliens' Daniel thought ruefully, he was a linguist, could speak 27 languages. It annoyed him, more than Jack __being annoying__. _

"_Got everything, I've got to monitor the trilogic unlocking at the base of the structure, so you'll be on your own until dark if you don't get to the bottom before then." It was left unsaid that if he didn't get down before dark he was dead anyway. This wasn't the most friendly of planets at night._

"_I'm ready." Daniel said, exhaling as he took Samson's shoulder. Samson put his hand on Daniel's shoulder and grinned manically at him._

_Then Daniel felt the world compressed down and the last thing he heard was a 'pop' as the suns disappeared and then for the time between moments disappeared and then he was standing on the uneven top of the monolith, trying to inhale the 'air' such as it was._

Daniel nodded to himself as he looked around, an alarm on his watch going off he pulled a tube from his pocket and reapplied the cream to his fingers that pocked through the end of the fingerless gloves and all over his face. This planet had a thing atmosphere that let in all sorts of UV radiation, another of the problems at night they had to contend with. During the day at least there were the suns to remind you.

There was also the dryness, dryer than any planet he'd been on, that was saying something considering the dust bowls he'd seen in the past eight years with the SGC, not to mention the driest summers on Abydos, though on Abydos it was either hot or it was cold there wasn't that much resembling seasons that they had on Earth.

Replacing the tube in his pocket he grabbed the brush from another, it was a thick archaeology brush with thick meaningful bristles. The sand and whatever else that was on the monolith that wasn't a monolith and let the air such as it was carry it away from him.

"What sort of civilisation writes puzzles on 300 meters up?" Daniel asked himself, he didn't actually know they were puzzles but that's what they'd last night, that's what he'd been working on when he had his feet on the ground. The data UNIT had on them suggested they were intelligent and massively powerful, though whether or not they were the 'good guys' as Jack would've said was open to question.

Daniel briefly wondered as he took a breath to blow sand out of the way and decided as he looked down he'd just use his larger brush how Jack was doing…

--/

Lt Col Samantha Carter pushed herself out from under the console, her flight suit was covered in various forms of coolant, sealant and whatever else from _Prometheus'_ systems that were determined to leak, spill and generally ooze out of the variety of damaged systems.

It had been around 4 weeks since they'd travelled to Earth the first time, when the General had made their deal, Sam had to admit it was a smarter deal than any alternatives that she could have thought of, but that was why he got paid the...well that was why he got to sit at the President's table when they visited the White House.

But it did amount to doing two jobs.

The information she'd managed to recover on Earth from the variety of artefacts had revealed several things to her, but with _Prometheus_' main systems still presenting intermittent faults she didn't have any way to compare her information accurately, not unless she pulled all the hard drives from _Prometheus_, de-coded them and then re-encoded them using the Research Base's equipment. Which she'd decided would take longer than simply fixing the problematic systems.

Or so she'd though 2 weeks ago.

Through working their way through Prometheus again they'd found other things that needed patching, mainly structural things that they could fix without costing them too much or using the things that had been provided to them from the Research Bases' own stores.

Anything major or complex would have to wait until their deal panned out.

As she stood up she rubbed something blue that was congealed on her hand onto her flight suit as she moved over to the main console. She brought up her hand and scowled at it, the blue whatever it was, was still on her hand, the very scientific method of ignoring and trying to rub it away hadn't helped.

She was about to _try_ and restart the primary diagnostic, something that for the past two weeks had managed to do everything but work when a Second Lieutenant behind her spoke up.

"Colonel we're receiving a communication from the Research Base for you."

"Put it through here Lieutenant." She said as she said down into the chair, scowling again at her hand with the blue stuff on it.

"Air Commodore." She said in greeting to the man on the screen.

"Colonel Carter. We've recently received information on a curious pulsar, it's emitting gravitational radiation close what was detected when your ship entered our universe."

Sam nodded, this was an opportunity she couldn't miss, to get first hand data with their own equipment…such as it was.

"Air Commodore I…" She was cut off.

"The ASCS _Mutawintji _will be here in 2 hours on their way to the pulsar have your gear and yourself ready at the transmat site, good luck Colonel."

Samantha Carter nodded and then grinned, he grin falling slightly as she wondered if she had to go through the transmat, she'd only just eaten a powerbar.

Lt Col Samantha Carter was sitting in a chair off to the side of the bridge, watching her own access feed to the sensors. She looked around the bridge again. This ship, the ASCS _Mutawintji _ was more or less exactly the same as the other ships she'd been on so far. There was a slightly different colour scheme, some things in a slightly different placing, probably and update or something.

She wondered if that was how the SGC would go, now that they had the refined _Daedalus_, _Prometheus _really was the odd one out. Though she still liked it, in its practicality and for the fact that she helped build most of it…and now had the job of putting it back together with none of the original parts she started with.

"We're coming to the coordinates sir."

"Jump engines online."

"Ready for jump."

"Do it."

This still amazed Sam, more than the 'sorcery' in some respects, this was something she could work with, but also something that she'd never really thought of. It was also something that unless when she got back to their original universe they could find some of the 'Q40 element' to punch a hole through the remaining bits of hyperspace she found would remain in the area of possible though not practical, though she could probably use its existence to annoy Rodney McKay the next time he came to the SGC.

There was a slightly shudder as they crossed through the generated vortex and across the threshold into normal space.

Then the alarms started going off.

"What is it?" The commander of the ship said in a level firm tone.

"Gravitational radiation off the scale, higher than what we should be reading for this." The SSC officer said from her post.

A wave of energy passed through the ship making the whole ship vibrate.

"Move us away to the edge of the system, full force fields, get sensor analysis to do a work up, why our readings were so out." The commander said as he pulled down the periscope like arrangement next to his chair and began checking other systems.

Carter turned away from the main forward screens and looked at her own readings in front of her.

Which were mostly overblown by the interspatial radiation.

When they were sitting on the edge of the solar system Carter was called into the meeting room with the commander and a few others from sensor analysis.

"Short answer is we can't take the ship closer to the the pulsar, the degree of gravitational radiation that the thing is pumping out is so high that the warping of space time means that the ship can't hold a steady course."

"Can't we compensate for that turbulence?" The commander asked leaning against the wall of the ship.

"No, sir. This turbulence is like little bits of interference throughout the ship, it's multifold effect."

Sam watched the commander give the man from sensor analysis a look, she'd seen that look before on the General's face, it was the 'explain' look.

The man was silent for a moment and then offered; "It means that as we approach the pulsar we'll end up with multiple things effecting the ship all across the spectrum of spacetime."

"So solutions to get close enough to conduct ours and" He looked over to Sam "Lt Colonel Carter's scans?"

"Uh…we're working on it sir, battle strategy and analysis is running the information with us."

"A report in hour, can we gather information while we're sitting here?"

"Only very close range sir, and some visual information, the pulsar's effects on local spacetime is disrupting a lot of our scans."

Two hours later Sam grabbed at the straps on the chair and pulled them tight as the _Mutawintji_ attempted to get closer than the outer reaches of the solar system.

"Ship status?" The commander said over the vibration of the ship.

"Fidelius is intact, force fields are deflecting a majority of the energies, but we're still encountering heavy flow back across the lower interstitials space-ranges."

Then the ship started to subtle move, and then quickly moved up to a vibration and then a full blown shake.

"Break off, return to out previous position." The commander yelled over the warning noises that were going off around them.

"It's our mass." Sam said looked down at the hand held computer.

"Colonel Carter?"

"Out energy output together with our mass is having an inverse gravitational effect on the gravity waves from the pulsar. Even if we could get close enough to the pulsar our own bow wake would effect our readings." Sam said as she read off her own analysis.

"Is she correct Jaymee?" The commander asked his SSC officer.

"Yes…sir, that was what I was about to say, not quite those terms." She smiled over at her.

"Suggestions to rectify it?"

"We need to get there with less mass, the…" Sam started and then trailed off trying to remember what Captain Potter had called "Shuttle Transport?" She looked around the table.

"The platypus? Does it have enough shielding to cope with the interstitial stresses in spacetime?"

"It should, we can start work on it and break out the sorcery kit to add extra protection to it."

"Do it, and get analysis started on how close we can get to monitor the platypus with sensors, redirecting power from other sensors to give us better range."

"Sir."

Sam looked around the room as they all filed out.

"Colonel Carter, you should head on down to the platypus make sure all your equipment is secured and shielded."

"Sir" She nodded as she rose from her chair.

Samantha Carter tried to concentrate on her equipment as the 'platypus' Shuttle Transport Craft supposedly rode the waves of distortion, though it was like riding a bucking bull in an industrial sized washing machine.

A part of her frowned and wondered where that metaphor came from.

The platypus didn't have any gravity, the field that generated it wouldn't have worked this close to the pulsar, and if it had it probably would have made it worse.

Worse was a relative thing, she was an air force Lt Col, she'd flown for the air force, she'd tested the F302, she'd made sure the F301 didn't drop out of the sky…until it flew away from the sky that is.

Now she was in a large shuttle craft like ship.

The SGC and Area 51 had never really considered building a transport type of craft, Sam was sure it had been brought up by someone during the design stages of the _Prometheus_. But redesigning a all the components to fit a smaller craft, which would in itself need to be hyperspace capable and have weapons, they had enough problems with the F302's hyperdrive which only sort of worked. _That_ was probably what put the nail in the coffin now that she thought about it, with the rings and the Asgard transporters they couldn't justify a shuttle like ship. Not in a 'how many missiles will it shoot if the Goauld decide to make Earth a site of interest' sort of way. The F303s were an efficient effective and while not cheap to manufacture, considering what they were they were an…

"Better give the belts an extra pull I think…" The lieutenant's words were cut off as the shuttle pivoted forward and Sam felt the belts push into her shoulders.

"Just rolling us around, I'm going to try and offset the gravitational wave with our engines, you'd better start calibrating your equipment, it's going to take a moment to work it all out." The motion in the ship had changed from random shaking to the ebb and roll of a ship on a stormy sea, being generated by a food mixer.

Commander Alphonse Landman stared at the enhanced visual readouts as they attempted to follow the platypus' journey towards the pulsar, they'd been reading ongoing fluctuations of energy from the pulsar. Not that they had concrete readings of what a pulsar is meant to specifically look like up close, certainly not one this size and one which had such a large effect on the local space time dimensional substructure.

He'd just finished reading through the reports from power and engine systems, when they'd exited from hyperspace the jump engines had needed almost twice as much power to keep the jump field vortex between hyperspace and normal space open, they hadn't been inundate with emergency warnings because one of them had noticed a slight imbalance from the sensor analysis and kept the power in reserve, just in case. Alphonse made a note to himself to buy a round of drinks the next time they were down on solid ground. It also reminded him of how much he needed to rely on his crew, he couldn't do or know everything.

'_You go into this space game not knowing everything, we're all learning out here, just make sure you don't get yourself or your crew dead in the process.' _Said one of the other captains when Night Wolf had had a meet and greet when he'd first got command of the brand new _Mutawintji._

"Have we still got focus on the platypus?"

"Only barely sir, it's just there." Said Jaymee from behind him, a square flashed up around the flare of the pulsars, even colour corrected and adjusted it was still a mess of energy.

"What have sensor analysis got on the space around us?

"We have partial readings portside stern, but aside from visual readings practically nothing useable. Though without the steady protection the platypus will only last about 5 hours out there sir…it's likely that…"

"Yes, likely, but…" Commander Landman trailed off thinking to himself. "Get sensor analysis to keep running detailed scans, even if all we get back is useless."

"Sir."

Across on the other side of the pulsar, out of the _Mutawintji_'s sensors, and hidden by the swarming energy of the pulsar from the platypus craft were three ships monitoring all three major events in the system, the two human craft and the pulsar itself.

The commander of the foremost ship turned to face its second in command.

"Status of pulsar temporal penetration?"

"Temporal development at 50 percent developmental structure."

The commander considered the information, its adapted brain working over the calculations, the variables. It turned to regard a second readout.

"Report status of human craft?"

"Human craft launched ancillary craft towards pulsar 1200 rels ago."

The commander shifted the main viewer to regard the human craft, a small craft that was emitting a variety of scanning frequencies, several aimed at analysing the pulsar's spatiotemporal spectro-graphology.

The commander turned and looked at the readings their sensors had gathered from the human's primary craft. Extensive details could not be gathered due to their location to the pulsar.

"Prepare for missile strike."

"Target?"

"The human's craft. Move this vessel for capture of ancilliary craft." The commander swivelled again studying the readings of the human craft, logic dictated the most likely targets for the missiles.

Logic would one day stall the commander's race in a war. But that was to come from the commander's standpoint, for now, as its single eye looked out, its own brain and battle computers together plotted a course for the missiles

"Missiles prepared."

"Launch missiles!" It said with a passion that some considered its race lacked, but it was a passion of hate.

Francis Forde looked over the computer screens, the streams of raw visual footage moving through in real time and in enhanced images of the area of space they were in.

The sensor analysis department had broken into smaller teams and they were each focusing on sections of of data and visual streams to look and analyse over as there was so much interference you needed to check everything with a human eye, not that the computers did a gigantic amount of the thinking when they were in open space, but they didn't need to do this much concentration.

Francis jabbed a finger at a section of spectrum and overlaid the sensor readings over the top again, even in the severely interfered with state they offered a comparison even if it was only a white noise comparison.

He stared at the new image, watching it in real time, one section of it at least. For about 3 seconds he didn't see anything, and then he did.

"Oh shit." Francis Forde hit the panic button.

An recorded voice went out across the ship. "Battle alert. All hands brace for impact."

"What's the al…" Commander Landman started when 4 of the 6 missiles fired at the _Mutawintji _impacted into the starboard side of the ship with such velocity that it shifted it in space.

There were a variety of alerts going off, emergency doors were slamming down throughout the ship and the _Mutawintji_.

Alphonse made himself think calmly and clearly.

"Report?" He shouted slamming a hand on a button to shut off the majority of alarms.

"Missile impact along starboard side, we're reading two missiles that missed, trying to get a lock on them."

"Weapons?"

"No control lower interceptors…" Something exploded behind them and the ship shuddered again.

"Force fields?"

"Still keeping back the energy from the pulsar, but it won't keep out anything weapon based."

"Reconfigure for weapons protection."

"Oh no." Jaymee said worriedly.

"Jaymee?"

"Sir, Da…" A panel exploded cutting off her words but Alphonse knew what she was about to say "on an intercept course. Battle and sensor analysis estimates they'll be here in…" Something else exploded at what felt like the front of the ship.

"We're loosing atmosphere along three decks, gravity field is destabilising."

"Where's the platypus?"

"We can't find it sir, too many sensors hit."

"Last image of it?" He demanded. "Where are they?"

"Three minutes to optimum firing range, battle analysis predicts we can't fight them. Energy cannons all damaged along our starboard side, port side minimal damage, power linkages fried. Image up."

The image, which appeared to have been enhanced from a combination of images displayed a saucer shaped craft appeared to be moving towards the platypus.

The ship shook and it felt like something else exploded.

"They're opening fire."

"Guess they're not going to wait. Battle analysis options?"

"They're saying…retreat, we can't launch thylacines, the bays are damaged, we've got less than…" Something exploded.

"They're coming in closer, weapons targeted on engines and remaining weapons." Called an officer from the side of the bridge.

"Get engines to full, jump engines?"

"Online."

"Get us clear to jump."

-/

The commander studied the scans of the region of space, the human's ancillary craft had been retrieved.

"Launch second wave missiles, destroy the human craft."

"Jump engines online."

"Jump!" The ship groaned as power was shunted away from whatever emergency systems were engaged to the jump engines.

"Missiles on approach, 30 seconds to impact. Reading Daleks attempting to land in ruins of secondary bays."

"Lock them out, get security squads to those sections. Where are those missiles?"

"10 seconds."

"Entering hyperspace." Alphonse let a out a sigh of relief, the jump engines would disengage almost immediately.

Then as they did so the enemy that were attempting entry into the ship self destructed.

-/

Sam groaned as she stared at the door, the floor was hard, metallic, and smooth. She looked across at the others they were all in a similar condition, unconscious maybe concussed, she was just woozy she guessed.

She didn't remember getting here, only the movement to the cells, if they were cells.

Sam looked up from the ground where she'd been trying to work out what it was made of as the door opened.

A thing, she thought was a machine as she wiped the sweat that had been forming constantly on her forehead since she'd awoken.

But then as it came into view, it was five foot high give or take, an oddly shaped base, half spheres around the base leading up to two appendages or devices.

At its top was a single eyepiece, gazing around before looking down at her.

"Bring the human female to the control room." It said to the being next to it.

"I obey master…" It said in slow deep voice.

As it grabbed her, none too gently Sam got her look at it, it was organic on the outside, dark features a bit like an ape and strong if how hard it was gripping her was any indication.

That, Sam thought to herself was a Dalek, she'd studied the UNIT files enough to recognise them, when she'd first seen them and read about them they didn't seem like much, genetically engineered biological beings encased within a biomechanical support system.

"You are attached to the mind analysis machine." Sam looked at the very lightly coloured gold Dalek in its eye, from where she was standing prone, her arms affixed to the 'mind analysis machine', her head was secured with heavy metal…device. The other Daleks around the control room were dark grey or silver in colour.

"Engage the mind analysis machine." It said to the dark grey Dalek beside it.

Sam felt a buzz go through her head, it felt a bit like the memory recall device.

The Dalek swivelled to view a screen beside it.

"You have undergone mind analysis previously." It stated. "You are an enemy of the Daleks."

"I am Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter of…" She trailed off. "I am Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter."

"You are an enemy of the Daleks." It stated again.

Sam tried to recall what they'd said about 'mind probes' at Research Base One, something about not thinking about anything, like self hypnosis. Then she thought about something else, in case the Daleks saw the Research Base.

"Technology found with your biodata suggests knowledge of inter-dimensional and temporal movement. This does not conform with known human technology. Logic dictates you have knowledge of this."

"Why do you want to know?" Sam asked it, determined to keep eye, eyes to eye contact with the Dalek, despite the buzzing she felt through her head. The Dalek stared back at her its body gave nothing all traces of biology locked away inside the bonded polycarbonate structure.

"Our vessels are displaced from our vessels relative time field we are altering the structure of this pulsar to emit a chronon surge through its rotational energy field. Your knowledge will assist us, you will help us." Sam almost missed the last part of the Dalek's sentence, it was delivered with such certainty and precision, such coldness, they was the lights on it's top flashed as it spoke, she could almost feel the hate that dripped from each word it spoke.

It was she reflected a differed sort of conversation from one's enemy, she also wondered if she was deliberately thinking thoughts not connected with anything because she wanted to or because of the buzzing in her head felt like it had gone up several notches.

Sam looked down and around the Dalek had turned away to one of its subordinates. Daniel would've probably been interested in the social dynamics here.

"Status of female's neurotransmitter levels?"

"Rising, mind analysis conduit imaging will take place shortly." It replied.

"Raise power to mind analysis machine."

The buzzing got louder, not gradually, Sam let out a cry masked as a grunt and spasm in the restraints, her legs were still relatively free she realised looking around, except nothing around here had anything….Sam shook her head as she attempted to keep out the jack hammering which manifested itself in loud white noise, probing her mind.

"Your intelligence levels suggest high conceptual understanding, you will explain the purpose of your technology and scanning systems, you will give information of your location of the human base in this sector of space…." The Dalek continued to almost shout the questions at her. Sam couldn't not ignore it, it felt as though the voice was burning its way into her skull.

She started, before she could stop herself talking about subspace and event horizons, a small part of her consciousness knew that and continued, it was unlikely they'd know the information for what it was.

At some point the Dalek turned away from her, Sam shook herself as the jack hammering dulled slightly, at least she thought it did.

"Ogron to control room." The golden Dalek commander ordered.

Sam blinked away the stars that she had begun to see and looked around once more, the tall dark skinned person that had dragged her here approached the Dalek.

"Master…" It said slowly.

The Dalek didn't seem to notice it.

"Increase power to mind analysis machine." Then it turned to look at the being. "Select next prisoner."

"Yes master."

Sam waited as it passed, it was flesh, she could injure it, maybe some hour get its weapon, a long shot, but that's how she worked a lot of the time. She tensed and gripped the metal restraints as it passed and kicked out.

The tall 'Ogron' grunted and crashed to the ground.

The Dalek commander swivelled around as the human female prisoner attacked to Ogron and aimed its weapon at the human female.

Sam saw the Dalek turn and the weapon aim, she screamed as the energy hit her….

--/

_A longer chapter this week, with lots of action and big cliff-hanger (imagine some suitable music to heighten the peril)._

_This chapter had a lot of technobabble in it. Which was necessary, generally speaking I try not to write huge swathes of it. But Carter was present for a lot of those scenes so she'd either be speaking it or be able to understand it. Some of its made up, some of it is actually based on what a pulsar does (and some has the science fiction spin on things), it all sounds right though._

_Last chapter had a trailer (which more or less made it into this chapter, just not word for word)._

_But again here is another teaser/trailer, which might make it in word for word (or not), but the central ideas of it will._

Jack leaned forward as the craft came to a shuddering halt on the air craft carrier. While Daniel, Carter and Teal'c got to go off on adventures, here he was. At least it was better than being stuck up there, now he was back on Earth and outside of the UK or Australia no less.

What pissed him off was the reasons, some people just don't know when to die.

--/

Teal'c tensed, listening at the wind, listening for everything and anything. Master Bra'tac would have liked to meet these warriors.

The humans of this universe believed he could teach them something, a learning experience. Teal'c looked up at the stars and breathed in the air around him, it felt like Chulak in the spring working with Master Bra'tac and listening to his tales of battles won.

_Longer trailer / teaser…just because I thought I'd write two of them. No guarantees they'll both make their way into next chapter. There's still what happened in this chapter to deal with and just because Daniel wasn't in peril doesn't mean he isn't._


	10. Chapter 10

Thomas Birmingham, head of the Sorcery department of Night Wolf Command watched through the series of images a third time and t

Disclaimer: All characters, names, settings etc belong to their respective copyright holders, only Night Wolf and a few other things are of my own creation (but inspired from many things under copyright, which aren't mine).

**Chapter 10**

Thomas Birmingham, head of the Sorcery department of Night Wolf Command watched through the series of images a third time and then listened to the recording of the phone call and read the brief report he'd received yesterday.

The images were over a week old, but it had taken that long for them to reach him.

Birmingham pushed himself away from his desk, memory stick in hand.

"Alistair."

"Birmingham, you have the concerned look about you, don't tell me another invasion." Alistair Gordon Lethbridge Stewart, General said as Birmingham walked into the office a worrisome mask over his face.

"I received this, it's a phone recording which is the tip of an iceberg."

"Titanic or Vodka and tonic?" Lethbridge Stewart asked rasing an eyebrow.

"A little of both." Birmingham said sitting down into the chair as the audio recording started.

"_Look I need to speak to Lieutenant Potter." _It was an American voice, annoyed, slightly strung out.

"_Lt Potter is presently not able to be contacted Agent Gibbs." _There was a pause of silence as Agent Gibbs swore under his breath.

"_Fine. I need to speak to someone on a secure line."_

"_Standby."_

"_This is UNIT-UK. You have information regarding your previous contact with Lt Harry Potter?"_

"_Yeah." _There was a slurp of liquid. _"I've got some…hinky stuff."_

"_Can you be more specific Agent Gibbs?"_

"_A man with a pouch in his stomach, reports of mind control rougher than anything we cooked up in the Cold War days."_

"_Do you have a report you can brief us on?"_

"_No."_

"_Agent Gibbs."_

"_I'll work with Lt Potter, that was enough for you the last time, send one of your UNIT guys around and they'll get a report. But I work with people I know."_

"_Standby Agent Gibbs. A UNIT operative with be with you shortly."_

Alistair raised an eyebrow at Birmingham and pulled up Harry's file and searched for an 'Agent Gibbs', he knew it rang a bell.

"This is the same Gibbs that Harry worked with on his holiday?"

"An association we ordered him on." Birmingham added. "The report is attached."

"And the photos?" Alistair looked from the screen to Birmingham who frowned slightly.

"MI6 operative, they were taken a week ago, only just getting to us."

"I'll have a word with M the next time we meet."

Birmingham waited as Alistair read through the some what lacking report, and then the pictures.

"Analysis?"

"The craft and the description bares more than a strong resemblance to the debrief of the Goa'uld that the _Prometheus _crew gave." Birmingham answered.

"Add to that the analysis of the remains and the destructive potential based on what we know."

"If the US do have access and problems to this we could be looking at another…" Birmingham was cut off by Alistair.

"Yes. Based on Harry's past experience this Gibbs trusts him enough to contact us." Alistair mused.

"Harry's report indicated that Agent Gibbs was capable and trustworthy." Birmingham added. "Though if we hold on this other agencies might take control."

"As they attempted the previous times." Alistair acknowledged in an annoyed tone, dealing with the US especially with regard to subjects usually under UNIT's purview was like fighting off vultures in the middle of a desert from a fresh piece of meat.

Alistair scrolled through a list on his computer and grabbed the phone on his desk.

"Oliver. Get onto UNIT Moonbase, get them to teleport General Jack O'Neill down here while the _Defiance _is still in orbit." There was a pause. "No it isn't, tell coms to lock in for long range coms to the ASCS _Hattah_, bounce it off the usual areas and utilise Research Base One jump gate and use the un-finished hyperspace buoy to punch through the interference. Good man."

Birmingham raised a questioning eyebrow.

"General O'Neill's evaluation came through a week ago, he's been wanting to be 'out and about on Earth'. There's no one from the _Prometheus_ within justifiable reach if it is a Goa'uld related problem."

"Sending an Air Force General to deal with an NCIS former Gunnery Sergeant?"

"Get onto adjusting an identity for the General Birmingham. Also get a kit ready and prepare to brief him on everything. We don't want the US agencies getting jumpy."

"And Harry?"

"Will be in for a 10 hour flight in a Thylacine I'm afraid. The research the _Hattah_ is performing is something we've waited months to see."

"I'm sure Harry will be in a motivated mood when he finally arrives here. So we're sending the General in alone?" Birmingham asked as he rose from his chair.

"Yes." Alistair looked up as Birmingham stood. "Do you think there will be a problem?"

"No." Birmingham paused thinking for a moment. "He's loyal and intelligent, sneaky enough, and seems to enjoy annoying people. I'm sure he'll work well with NCIS."

--/

"Communications relay coming through Colonel Rogers, long range comm. signal."

"Put it up." One of the screens on board the bridge of the ASCS _Hattah _flickered into life, the image was mostly broken up by digital interference throughout the whole screen.

"Applying filters and re-buffering signal, sensor analysis say it's the interference from…" Captain Harry Potter trailed off. "Everything in the system."

The image broke up again before resolving into an image of General Lethbridge Stewart.

"_Colonel Rogers."_

"General, checking in on our progress?" Rogers asked curiously as he unconsciously sat a little straighter in his chair.

"_Not quite Colonel. We need Captain Potter back on Earth, I'm ordering his recall immediately."_

Harry almost said 'Why?', but held his tongue, he was visible within the communication as were others on the bridge, but his friendship with the Brigadier not withstanding Rogers was the superior officer and the one being spoken to anyways.

"Why sir, we're just coming up to the final phases with the asteroids."

"_Colonel if I might…"_ Alistair nodded towards Harry.

"Sir."

"_Captain Potter, NCIS Agent Gibbs contacted UNIT, he wants our assistance."_

Harry sighed. "And he'll only deal with me."

"_Something like that, full briefing when you arrive."_

"Harry sir?" Rogers asked.

"_The __Hattah__ will remain Colonel, Captain Potter is to make the journey in a Thylacine."_ The image flared.

"Signal strength dropping." Harry reported.

"_Night Wolf out."_

Colonel Rogers turned around to face Harry a smile that annoyed Harry on his face.

"Well Harry, bet flight to prep a Thylacine for a long range flight." Rogers turned away to look at the screens. "10 hours if I'm not mistaken in a thylacine, in hyperspace."

Harry just nodded grimacing, that would serve him actually being qualified for said long range flights, had he not gone to the trouble he wouldn't be able to be ordered…but then they'd have to take the whole ship from here to Earth. Plus there were all the scientists they had outside in the platypuses, monitoring and feeding all the information into the the ship, interesting enough to watch them do, and kinda interesting to see happening but not totally exciting.

Not that 10 hours in hyperspace would be interesting, more boring and…mind numbing.

Harry stuffed his small bag into the compartment behind the seat that you sat into in a sort of standing sitting manner as the final checks were made over the thylacine. It had extra powerpacks giving it a good 48 hour range. The standard power packs would be enough for his journey but when you left the general proximity of the ship it was the regulations. Plus he was going into hyperspace which meant after the getting in via the _Hattah's_ engines he'd only be able to get out via Research Base One or Earth's jump gate, or a ship, with jump engines. But in practise the two jump gates were the only fixed certainties.

Still 10 hours within nothing to stare at but red, black and instruments, Harry patted his ipod that sat within his suit's pocket with a gloved hand.

Technically speaking you shouldn't be able to hook an ipod up to the internal systems and communications of the thylacine. But that didn't mean you couldn't, plus 10 hours with practically nothing to do.

He could catch up on the recordings of those lectures Hermione had said he should listen to or alternatively listen to everything that say at the bottom of his playcount playlist. It was better than pondering _why _and for _what _he was flying 10 hours in hyperspace back to Earth for.

--/

Jack shook himself as he stepped out of the transmat, no, the teleport, the transmat felt like a bad night out on a planet that hadn't invented the bathroom yet.

At least he was back on Earth, after two or so weeks on the moon at least it was different. Not that the moon hadn't been cool, he'd even got to see the moon landing site.

That was what he got for saying he was curious about the moon, _that_ was Carter's fault, he should have just said something else, like he wasn't curious about the moonbase, maybe curious about somewhere tropical and they would have asked him if he liked to go there, Italy maybe, maybe UNIT had a base he could go to there and experience being attacked by a weird silicon based life form there, _instead of the moon_.

He hoped that Daniel, Teal'c and Carter were having as much 'fun' as he was here in close proximity to the Earth.

"That slimy snake bastard, never knows when to die quietly." Jack said aloud upon seeing the photos.

"I want you to liase with NCIS until Captain Potter arrives, you'll continue to work with him upon his arrival." General Lethbridge Stewart told him.

"So got to ask why me, not that I didn't enjoy my extended stay on the moon, just don't expect me to be breaking out any Bart Howard songs soon." The General gave him a familiar look, Hammond used to give him similar glares. Jack smiled.

"Your expertise regarding the Goa'uld is invaluable, and by your own regard you can think on your feet and deal with the 'unknown'". Jack winced, the General was quoting what he'd written on one of the forms he'd had to write up.

"Right, when do I leave?" Jack asked after a few moments of silence.

--/

Jack thought he'd be going in a plane, or through the transporters (or whatever they were called, stuff that beamed you), or something.

Not on a boat.

Okay ship. He decided as he sat at a console on the bridge, which looked for the most part like the inside of the UNIT space ships he'd been aboard.

_20 Minutes Earlier…_

Jack looked down the pier he'd been directed towards at the ship, or rather he tried to.

He knew there was a large catamaran there, he'd been told so…but…every time he tried to look for it, every time his eyes landed on it he wanted to leave and go somewhere else. Fishing maybe. Except he was standing on a pier and walking towards a ship.

Jack shifted the weight of the pack on his back and tried to remember to old adage about ships and boats.

"_A boat can fit on a ship, but a ship can't fit on a boat._" Jack said aloud to himself with a smile as he tried not to look at the thing that he was not looking at and instead tried to distract himself from not, not looking at it by studying the wood that the pier was made of.

Supposedly the USA was a little jumpy about new aircraft, and especially most things to do with UNIT, he could understand that. So the General had said the quickest way to the US was the UNIT vessel, UNS _Hillingar_.

"Colonel O'Neill?"

"Yeah." Jack squinted up against the harsh cold light of day at the hulking mass of the ship he'd been trying to not look at.

_Present._

Jack read back through the notes that Sorcerer Birmingham and General Lethbridge Stewart had given him to read, on his very, very short trip between the UK and the USA.

No wonder this ship had…whatever it had on it "active and passive stealth". The notes at the top laid out his 'identity', mostly they'd just vagued up everything, oh and they'd demoted him back down to Group Captain in Britain's Royal Air Force, because _obviously_ he couldn't be from the US, but for his UNIT rank he was now a Colonel.

_Exactly _where he obtained his accent, at a dime store sale obviously.

"Power systems."

"Ready."

"Engines."

"All in the green."

"Coordinates?"

"Locked in, hazard avoidance system is ready, manoeuvring parameters set."

"Move us away from the pier and sound all stations."

Jack looked up and around, the light flashed blue for a moment and then he heard the low key thrum of power.

Then he was practically squashed into his seat as the catamaran accelerated to a speed generally considered impolite for less than most expensive aircraft.

"Sweet." Jack exclaimed around the g-force.

--/

Ziva looked up from her desk as elevator doors opened expecting to see Tony, but he was still off on his 'break'.

The man who had been in the elevator walked around and over to her desk and looked down at her and smiled.

She looked at him, greying hair, though not as much as Gibbs, smiling, something he looked like he did more, more than Gibbs at least.

"Who are you?" That was Gibbs.

Jack turned and looked at the man who'd asked the question.

"Me, looking for Agent Gibbs, you him?" He asked innocently.

"Yeah, who are you?"

"Colonel Jack O'Neill." Jack paused, he liked calling himself a Colonel, just a bit. "UNIT." That felt a bit unfamiliar.

"McGee." Agent Gibbs turned and barked a name.

"Yes boss?"

"Colonel Jack O'Neill, confirm who he is."

"Right boss."

Then Gibbs turned back to him and stared at him.

"You know, you might be a bit more on the down and easy if you laid off the coffee." Jack leaned closer and further into Gibbs' personal space than Gibbs was already in. "Because coffee cologne is soo last year."

"Where's Lt Potter?"

"Delayed Agent Gibbs, UNIT ain't on NCIS's beck and call."

"Boss." The McGee guy called over Gibbs, Jack followed him.

"Nice picture, I asked for a bit of photshopping, maybe a touch-up around the hair, maybe a different outfit, they wouldn't bite."

"McGee."

"But…" He started Gibbs stared at him. "Colonel Jack O'Neill, member of the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce. Formerly with British Royal Air Force."

"Number of years."

"Classified, sorry boss." McGee apologised.

"Fine."

"Boss."

"What is it McGee?"

"There's no evidence of Colonel O'Neill officially entering the United States."

"Oops." Gibbs turned around and stared at him. What was he going to do, read his mind? No, just stare at him.

"I usually go on a second date, or exchange some witty banter before I get this close and personal with someone."

Gibbs just stared, then his phone rang, then he walked off.

"Ziva, McGee!" he said when he rounded the second cubicle.

Jack looked around and then looked at the map he'd been given when he'd walked in.

Jack breathed in the cool air.

He hated morgues, always places of danger, or zombies.

There was no sign of anyone, well no one that was Agents Gibbs, McGee and whatever Ziva's last name was, or maybe that was her last name.

Jack made a mental note to ask her and keep out of her way, something about the way she moved…he shook his head.

"Can I help you with something." Said an Englishy sounding voice behind him.

"Yeah, I'm Colonel O'Neill from UNIT, we got a report of a body."

"Bodies Colonel, if you could give me some identification I might be able to help you."

Jack turned around, he'd been talking to the tables, not ready to turn around, just in case someone was pointing a weapon at him, after all he was in a morgue.

He removed the UNIT ID from his pocket he'd been provided with no less than 5 hours ago.

The guy with the Englishy voice took it studying it.

"Colnel Jack O'Neill, United Nations Intelligence Taskforce. And what is a pilot, a lapsed one at that doing investigating for the UN?"

Jack stared at the guy, the pathologist unless NCIS made a habit of keeping guys with English accents in the basement to up the weird factor, you never knew with some agencies.

"The way in which you twisted your wrist to remove your pass from your pocket Colonel suggests training inside craft made for high G-forces, the lines around your face indicate that you've been exposed to certain forms of UV present at high altitudes, the lack of more recent expose means you haven't been flying lately."

"Or I could just not be flying under the sun." He quipped as the doors opened and allowed in the three NCIS agents. Agent Gibbs was pointing a gun at him.

"Hi guys."

"Your pass Colonel O'Neill."

"He done anything Ducky?"

"What precisely is he to have done Jethro?"

"Breathed NCIS security." Agent McGee offered, looking to Gibbs.

"Come on! You guys walked off, I walked down here." Jack made a walking motion with his fingers.

"So you could contaminate the evidence." McGee offered.

"Hey." Jack waved a hand. "You guys called me."

"I called for Lt Potter."

"For crying out loud, you got on the phone and made a call, you don't always get what you want, what are you 10?"

"Ducky show him the bodies."

"What were Abigail's findings Jethro?" 'Ducky' asked as he walked over to a series of cabinets against the far wall. He opened three of them.

Jack looked from the bodies to the gun then shrugged, he thought dealing with the Gunnery Sergeant was going to be a little bit odd, but this was pushing it…or maybe he was just a megalomaniac, that could work.

"Ah…crap." He said as he saw the tattoo on the middle guy's head. "Oh…crap." Jack said again to himself, the guy had the mark of Ba'al and a pouch.

"Did'ja happen to find anything inside the pouch?" He asked as casually as he could as he reached inside he coat pocket for the compact weapon he'd had a quick training in, he'd set and left it on the kill option.

"Like what?" Jack couldn't tell if Agent McGee's question was a mumble or worry or curiosity.

"Anything?" He asked looking around and focusing on the doctor.

"Anything to explain why an overtly healthy man should have a cavity within his abdomen Colonel, then no." He moved over to where Jack was standing looking down at the middle body. "What do you believe should be in there Colonel?"

Jack looked at the pathologist and then around to the three agents, waiting for their eyes to glow and for one of them to start shooting at him. His money was on Agent Gibbs, who still looked ready to shoot him.

"Something slimy and clichéd."

"The cavity contained a mucus like substance with an antibody membrane that was already starting to break down despite the body's constant refrigeration."

"But it was empty."

"Yes. Colonel." The pathologist confirmed.

"What were you expecting to find in there?" Jack turned slightly, didn't this Gibbs have any idea of personal space?

"What'd he die of?" Jack asked pointing down at the dead Jaffa, he vaguely knew the answer, he'd herd Teal'c talk about it, thought probably not in the same…hang on…

"Immune system, or lack there of, this man despite his body being in the total picture of health had no immune system at all, short of being exposed to a certain degree of radiation, for which there is no evidence of it's a myster…though I do recall a case of a colony of orang-utan in a south Indian zoo…"

"Ducky. You didn't say anything before about his immune system."

"That's because Timothy you left barely half way through my autopsy, you can't expect the action sequence when you leave before the first commercial break."

Jack looked around Gibbs had returned his weapon to his holster, Jack tuned out the…whatever these people were talking about.

The other two guys had vacant expressions on their faces, real vacant. Jack grimaced at what he was about to do and looked around for the rubber gloves.

Hell what was he doing? Jack thought to himself as he snapped on a glove and walked back over to the bodies.

None of them had snake entry marks, which was as good as it was bad.

--/

Jack leaned back in the office chair and played with the remote to the large plasma screen on the wall.

"News, News, tracking report…"

He was bored.

After the whole dead body incident they'd gone to see their lab technician, there was a whole load of techno-stuff.

Which amounted to a whole bunch of unknowns and questioning looks from the goth girl in his direction, he couldn't do the Carter speak.

This was why he needed his team here.

But they weren't his team anymore, technically speaking, though now that he was 'demoted' to Colonel he could have them.

Excepting the fact that they were on different planets at the moment.

Probably having more fun than he was.

Jack pushed himself forward and picked up the detailed report that they'd decided to give him.

The three guys had been transferred (once they'd been discovered dead and all) off the USS _Bunker Hill_, part of a 'covert' specialist group operating in 'classified' waters on what was probably a covert classified mission. Jack would have named this an NID operation, if he was in his universe, that would have been easy.

A pain in the ass, but easy.

Agent Jethro Gibbs had gone off to the 'MTAC', to which he'd been barred, he sensed the guy didn't like him.

Supposedly they were chatting to the commander of the ship that transferred the three guys, the three dead guys to NCIS.

Why he'd needed to be rushed from the Moon, heck, the Moon! He could be having lunch and watching them water the plants at the moment, instead he was sitting around inside a military office in the USA.

It was like being at the SGC, with a view of ships instead of…aircraft and concrete, plus these guys had a serious decorating problem, photos with big crosses against them. Admittedly he'd suggested it to Hammond when he'd actually been a Colonel and had it vetoed, three times.

This was why he hated investigating.

Going out and doing, that was fun, interesting, Daniel had the right idea, at least that space monkey was out there digging his hands in the dirt.

Not endless reports, looking at technobabble and typing on keyboards and flashy pictures from microscopes or anything.

Jack grabbed the remote again and flicked to the most interesting thing he had access to.

It was 1 minute of footage recovered from an unsent email on one of the guy's cell phones, obviously not the jaffa's.

Jack squinted at the image, it showed the outline of one US ship in the background and then a Goa'uld cargo ship streaked across the image before going out of shot.

Jack skipped back to the start, watching it again trying to have one of those moments of realisation that Carter was so good at.

On the fourth viewing something happened.

"That is a rather bad indicator." Said a familiar voice beside him, Jack tried not to be shocked when he turned and saw Captain Potter standing beside him. He was getting used to the wacky way that Potter dealt with somethings, but the whole appearing out of thin air, quietly at that still got to him.

"Potter, you took your time." Jack said as he took in Potter's appearance, he had dark bags under his eyes which were also slightly bloodshot.

"10 hours plus getting here, that I had to do myself consciously Colonel. Play it again." He said nodding to the image. Jack thumbed the control.

"This is altogether not the best thing, definitely more than one source recording." Potter mumbled to himself.

"You should see the bodies in the basement." Jack quipped.

"Yes, we should." Potter sighed dragging a hand through his hair.

"Down to the basement?"

"Yeah." Potter said.

"What about the nice Agent pointing her weapon at you?" Jack asked casually as he stood.

Potter shrugged. "Not the first time, doubt it'll be the last."

"Stay where you are." Said agent Ziva David who was keeping and even distance from both of them.

"Ya think it's because you don't have a visitor's pass or do you just inspire people to pull guns on you?"

Potter shrugged. "Bit of both probably. Where's Kate Todd?"

"Dead."

"Agent Gibbs."

"Lt Potter."

"Captain now. I'm sorry." Harry said sincerely to the voice above him.

"Yeah." Harry heard a sip of coffee.

"What took ya so long?"

"You wouldn't believe where I've been, and if I told you I'd only have to wipe your memory anyways, that's always messy, you might end up liking tea."

"Gibbs?"

"Ziva put the gun down, this is Lt Potter also of UNIT."

"Captain." Harry corrected.

"Tell McGee to pack up the travelling gear we're going to the _Bunker Hill_."

"Gibbs?"

"Go Ziva."

Harry then turned around and looked over at Agent Gibbs.

"You look like hell Captain."

"So everyone keeps telling me."

"Must be some distance away for a man of your talents."

"Very possibly Agent Gibbs. The bodies, Colonel you've got kit from UNIT?"

"Yeah, right here." Jack said hauling it up.

Harry looked down at the two bodies that weren't A) alien and B) from another universe.

They were a puzzle, wrapped inside a sleeping back thrown down the chute of an annoyance.

Harry grimaced at his mental analogy and decided not to think on it. On top of the however many hours he had been on duty the flight through eternity hadn't been the most relaxing.

"Hand me the yellow dust Jack."

"That's _Colonel_, Potter." Harry could hear the grin in his voice.

"Colonel me again and you'll spend the next 10 minutes as a frog." Harry muttered to himself as he took the yellow test tube and removed the stopped, tipping a small amount over the eyes of the first man, muttering the incantation written on the tube.

The dead man's eyes glowed, very briefly, too briefly for Harry's tastes.

"Now the blue one." Harry repeated the process before moving onto the other man.

Jack watched as Potter methodically applied his weird tests on the bodies, there was a distinct detachment from what he was doing, like, not that it didn't matter but that he was focusing on the job, nothing more.

He'd seen it in Potter's eyes when he'd first met him, and saw it again in the way he moved now, Potter still hadn't _really_ talked about his past, Jack never really did, live for the present and all that.

"Well?" Jack asked after a moment, Agent Gibbs was hanging back watching like an eagle.

"This guy was definitely under a series of curses, central to mind control and manipulation. He was also killed via sorcery, wand based." He turned to the other guy. "This one…I'm not sure. There are signs of mental degradation and manipulation, plus elements of some form of control, it's showing up as an element concentrated around the nose and mouth, though off the top of my head I can't think of any…" Harry trailed off looking at O'Neill's expression.

"Colonel…Jack?"

"Crap. Crap and Hell. Nishta." Harry didn't recognise the word but Agent Gibbs had perked out of his vague curiosity, grappling inside his pocket Harry through a cloud of dust into the air and murmured out a line of unintelligible words as he pulled Colonel O'Neill close to him as the cloud encompassed him.

"Hey…! What?"

"It's just an interference cloud, stops him getting in, interferes with pretty much anything. Lasts about 3 minutes. What's Nishta?"

"Goa'uld mind control. You inhale it."

"Ah." Harry chewed his cheek.

"The other guy he was killed by magic?"

"Yeah. Both of them have been in contact with magic, both have had their minds probed, only one of them by magic…I remember reading from your debrief…." Harry was cut off by O'Neill.

"Yeah, the snakeheads can do the whole mind probe deal."

"Crap."

"Indeed as Teal'c would say if he were here." Jack threw the comment direct at Harry.

"Not my fault. _Jack_ since we're supposed to be working together."

"Fine, what do we do, since _you're _the expert. Do you trust him?" Jack shot a look through the haze that encompassed them.

"Mostly. Though two of the people I met the last time I was here, one's dead the other's on leave."

"Could be a coincidence." Harry gave him a doubtful look.

"What about him? He's like Teal'c right?"

"Except this guy would have had a snake in his belly."

"Oh merlin, you mean?"

"Yep, there's probably a guy with a snake in his head."

"Like Ba'al, flashing eyes, flanged voice."

"Clichéd, grandiose and just a bit camp, yeah that's them." Jack said with a grimace that might have been an annoyed smile.

There was a fizzing in the air and the haze around them broke down, Agent Gibbs was staring at both of them.

"Finished?"

"Yeah." Jack drawled.

"These two men were affected by mind control confirming your initial report, this guy" Harry indicated the one probably effected by Nishta "by a nerve agent of sorts, who was he?"

"2IC on the USS _Bunker Hill_." Gibbs responded.

"Marvellous. I'll be accompanying you to the _Bunker Hill_." Harry said looking at Gibbs as he said so.

"Fine." He nodded, Harry raised an eyebrow and started to pack up the equipment.

"McGee? What's all that stuff for?"

"My equipment boss, we're on a flight to the _Ronald Reagan _then we'll be briefed on ship before transfer to specialist group code name; Chrysopoeia."

"Great McGee, you're stayin here." Gibbs said not breaking his stride.

"Why boss?"

"Because I'm telling you to, work with Abby to work out the rest of those substances we found with the dead guys." Gibbs practically shouted over the cubicle walls as he walked into the elevator, not waiting for Jack and Harry to go in.

"Looks like we're catching the next one." Jack said to Harry as he jabbed the button repeatedly.

"The stairs would be a better use than that." Harry turned and saw Ziva David standing behind him.

"Still don't trust us Agent David?"

"Gibbs trusts you."

"DiNozzo would trust me, where is he by the way?"

"Leave." The elevator doors opened. Jack looked over at Harry, Harry shrugged as they walked in.

Jack could never get comfortable on these planes, probably because they weren't built for comfort, though Potter didn't seem to be having any problems resting, though considering he had looked wiped that wasn't much to go on.

Jack wanted to know why Potter hadn't done his…sorcery turning to mist thing.

Maybe it was because he didn't know where this 'Chrysopoeia' group was. Not that he pretended to know how he did that, nor the whole wings out of the back thing, _that _was weird.

--/

Harry stood out on the deck of the USS _Ronald Reagan_.

"Bracing isn't it?" He said to Jack O'Neill who had his hands stuffed inside a jacket against the brisk air of the sea.

"Yeah the same way the desert is warm."

"Which desert?" Harry asked curiously.

"Why didn't you insist in being included in the briefing?"

"Anything useful they won't tell us, anything interesting we'll need to find out on our own."

"Right. Why are we talking out here? Instead inside where it's warm?"

"Like the desert?" Harry asked as a plane took off watching O'Neill watch it wistfully.

Jack ducked into the cabin of the Seahawk, Potter was already inside, he didn't know where they were going, but what they would find was gnawing at him.

Snakeheads, his luck there'd be more than one.

Though knowing the way luck treated him he'd probably find a bunch of snakes swimming in the ship's ballast.

--/

**5 Hours Later…**

"Is this how missions usually turn out for you?" Harry asked curiously.

"No usually there's some torture and general threats thrown."

"Yeah I've had that too."

"You will remain silent!" Said the man holding the weapon in front of them.

"Okay." Harry admitted. "There's the threats."

"Try a pitch higher and we won't even take you the slightest bit seriously." Jack added.

"Where's Agent Gibbs and David?" Harry asked as he looked around and wondered how many people were actually ready to shoot them and risk hitting the canisters of gas behind them.

"They are my prisoners." Said a deep flanged voice down a corridor from them.

"Oh crap." Jack bemoaned.

"Booming voice and hiding in the shadows." Harry said to no one in particular. Then added. "Glowy eyes…" He turned to Jack. "The last guy I met face to face ended up in a sun."

"You will bow be forth our lord…"

"Lord..?" Jack trailed off just as the seaman did.

"Oh crap." Harry said as the Lord…whatever his name was came into full view, he was holding a wand, not Harry's.

"A curious world, with even curiouser devices of torture, powerful yet intriguing."

"Try not to bite your tongue." Harry said as he clasped his hands within the bounds of the cable ties that held his hands together.

"Why?" Jack asked slowly.

"_Crucio!_" The light enveloped both of them.

Harry fought off and show of pain instead electing to stare into the eyes of their torturer. Why, couldn't anything be simple?

The investigation had been going so well too, Gibbs and David seemed to have fallen back into their element, in that they weren't pointing guns at him and Jack.

Then they'd found the lab with the potions inside and the interface from what looked like a Tzun battlecruiser, half finished control mechanisms from Dalek scout craft, plus a variety of other partially deconstructed systems.

There was also a communications globe Jack found which 'iced the cake'.

It had been too much to find the canisters of 'Nishta' next to the secondary biological hazard filtration systems.

That's when they'd been 'zatted' as Jack had said, Harry briefly wondered when he'd started referring to him as 'Jack'…that's when the Cruciatus ended.

Harry revelled in the mind cracking headache, the stiffness in all joints and the odd feeling of blood trickling into his palms from where he'd tensed against the ties holding his wrists together. It was this that worried him the most, and the noises Colonel O'Neill was making, the first Cruciatus was always the hardest.

Actually the second, third and other times didn't do you any favours either.

Harry allowed the 'Lord's' minions drag them away as he considered their next move.

--/

Jack woke up feeling like he'd gone toe to toe with an Unas.

"Chew this." Said an overly loud person and forced something into his mouth. It smelt strongly of liquorish.

"Wha…?"

"Chew it, it'll reduce the after affects of the Cruciatus." Said Potter who was standing by a bulkhead door.

Jack resigned himself to chewing the whatever it was and rubbed his sore wrists.

Jack looked around the room and saw two cable ties on the ground.

"How'd you get free?"

"Magic." Potter said walking the short distance between them and sat down beside him on the ground. "They tried to gas us. That nishta stuff I'm assuming."

"Why'd you let us get cursed if you could just escape?" Jack asked as he swallowed the last of the whatever it was, his hands weren't shaking any more, but his back, knees, joints and head still were aching.

"Gibbs and Ziva were obviously affected by something."

"Paranoia." Jack offered. Potter nodded.

"More than that, selective memory of some events. They wouldn't be Goa'uld would they?"

"Someone had to have taken the snake out of the jaffa's pouch and into that guy."

"They don't just leap out?" Potter asked.

"How did you survive the gas?"

"You're not worried about yourself?" He countered.

"Been exposed, doesn't work a second time, like the chicken pox."

"Bubble head charm stretched over the whole body, I put one over you anyways." He smiled.

"Didn't they search us?" Potter looked at him again. "Right magic, so why don't you magic us out of here?"

Potter frowned again. "There's a biomorphic jamming field operating here."

"That means?"

"Means I can't personally move…so we do it old school." He said pushing himself up. "Or we could just wait around and pretend to be minions of their Lord?"

"Nah, been there, donned the cotton shirt, it ain't pretty." Potter shrugged.

"I bow to your experience with this particular brand of parasitical megalomaniac, here's your weapon." Potter handed him the stun kill device. Jack stared at Potter he didn't ever remember giving it to him, nor the pack he'd had which wasn't here either.

"Where's the pack, if Lord whatever gets it…" Potter patted a pocket.

"Magic, right, that's what I needed when I was moving house."

Potter removed his…his wand from a concealed pocket and aimed it at the door, some shiny sparks and a muttered word later the door was open.

"So where're we heading?" Potter shrugged.

"The lab we passed before we found the nishta gas and got…"

"Zatted." Jack said in a low voice. "What about the NCIS guys?"

"How do you break the nishta?"

"Electric shock."

"Charming. We should work out what the Navy were doing here first."

"It's your planet."

"Set you weapon to stun." Potter said holding up a similar weapon as the rounded a corridor.

Jack nodded and followed him in. The weapon had no recoil and practically no noise, Potter was already moving around the lab for the second time today.

"They've moved stuff around since we were last in here." Potter said after he'd completed a loop of the lab.

"And…?" Was Potter waiting for him to make an 'intuitive leap' like Carter did, staring at him with wide eyes expecting him to see that the puzzle in front of him was actually that particular race's instructions on how to make the perfect super weapon.

"Whatever they must have left out here was left for us to see, I thought it wasn't much when we were in here."

"What about these?" Jack gestured with his weapon at the empty beakers of potions.

Potter crossed the small distance over to where he was and sniffed gingerly at the beakers.

"Nothing catastrophic, generally deadly, mostly…" He trailed off staring at one beaker. "Pass me that scalpel." He murmured as he picked up a set of wooden tongs.

He gently lowered the tongs onto the remaining liquid paste in the beaker. Had Jack not seen it for himself…the moment the stuff touched it crept along the scalpel turning it to…

"Rock, or something very like it."

"What for?"

"This operation is called Chrysopoeia." Potter said dropping the tongs.

"So?"

"It relates to Alchemy."

"Don't tell me that's real?"

"I've seen a philosopher's stone Jack. It's real."

"Ya mean turning stuff into gold?" Potter nodded.

"Though I doubt it's something as mundane as just gold."

"Now we should find out what they're up to." Harry said as he looked around. He didn't like leaving Gibbs and David to…whatever was going on with them. But this alchemy thing was worrying him, the name was enough to get him concerned, but finding the an alchemical potion base, that was definitely worrying. Though why the Americans would do all of this out on a ship, and why they'd need a few ships, from what he'd gathered eavesdropping on Gibbs there were probably three ships.

He wished Hermione was here, she at least knew more than the background on alchemy and could postulate further why…

"Why they'd need matter conversion and alchemical processes…I have a bad feeling about all this." He muttered to himself.

"What?"

"Nothing, just talking to myself." Harry said as they rounded another corner, into three soldiers, waiting with guns, bullet guns.

"Oops." Harry spun around and into a doorway, Jack stepped into one opposite.

A few minutes later they were on the deck of the ship.

"You sure this is the best place?"

"Better than any other, one entrance, and unless they look straight up they're not going to see us."

"And if they do?"

"Shoot them." That was when an alert noise went out throughout the ship.

"I think they heard you." Jack said to him, Harry glared at him.

Harry was about to say something when a missile roared out of a silo on the ship and into the air.

"Got any binoculars in your bag of tricks?"

"There's a ship, south-south west." Jack gestured.

Harry gazed through the binoculars, there was a flash just as he'd got the focus correct and something exploded above the ship.

It seemed to shimmer and then, then sink.

Harry passed the binoculars back to jack.

"What happened."

"Alchemy, is one of the processes of trasmutating matter into something else at its most basic form. It's related to transfiguration, but that can be undone simply enough…alchemy is like…" Harry looked at Jack who appeared lost.

"It's like." Harry paused and shook his head. "Nup, can't think of a good metaphor."

"It's a weapon."

"Yeah."

"Developed by the US Navy."

"Yep."

"That was a Navy ship."

"Yeah. Obviously your snake guy is testing it out on any ships in the area."

"Why?"

"Good question, Though whatever the answer is I think we should stop whatever it is at this point."

"Good idea, how?"

"A ship this size there's…" Harry looked at Jack.

"What're you looking at me for?"

"You're in the American military."

"You're in UNIT!" Harry shrugged.

"About 300 or so people."

"That's not good." Harry said after a while.

"No. What about the ship I came on?"

"Already tried when you were knocked out, jammed."

"Great."

"How good are you at re-wiring?" Harry asked after a moment.

--/

"This will never work."

"Why not? The ship is metal, metal conducts electricity, this is a fifth generation emergency fuel cell back up power furnace. Should work."

"Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't electricity you know, kill?" Jack said as he finished hacking through the circuit breakers Potter had told him to do.

"That's the ampage…which I think I've got right." Potter said pushing himself out from under a console and removing his wand from a pocket and started to sketch things onto the console, they looked like symbols.

"What's that for?"

"As you pointed out before it would be pretty stupid if anyone could do this to a ship, this is a bit of sorcery thrown in to counteract anything like that."

"And rubber soled shoes, insulation, sneaky snakes?"

"That too, find the chalk in the bag and draw a circle, big enough for both of us."

"Chalk?"

"Classic sorcery, a chalk circle with a focus protects you from a lot of dangers."

Jack couldn't believe what he was doing, sitting cross legged in the middle of a chalk circle, with a knife between him and Potter, Potter had his eyes closed. Jack could feel the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end, he didn't know if it was the do-hicky Potter set up to do…whatever it did or the knife circle thing.

"Think alarm clock." Potter murmured a warning noise went off and all the lights went out.

There was a smell of ozone and burnt wires throughout the ship.

"Where you going?" Jack said as Potter turned a corner.

"To find Gibbs and David."

"Nah. We're going to find the Goauld." Potter nodded.

There was a stronger smell on the bridge of burnt wires and a bit of burnt flesh.

It didn't seem anything life threatening though.

"You!"

"Us. Hey" Jack waved at the Goa'uld on the floor, the metal hand device seemingly conducted and intensified the electricity.

Harry squatted down and felt for a pulse on the Goauld.

"Hey, Potter keep back he might…leap out."

"Oh." He stood up quickly. "Where's Ba'al gone?"

"What?" Jack said.

"It's reasonable to ask, he's not here, and you said someone had to have taken him out of the belly of the Jaffa."

"He also died during that battle." Jack said. "But, he does like his clones." Potter nodded.

"I will tell you nothing!"

"Again with the clichés." Jack teased.

"I never thought I'd actually need to do this against an alien." Potter was muttering to himself as he removed his wand and stood a small distance away from the Goauld's head.

"Do what?"

"_Legilimens_."

"Ah crap." Jack said to himself as Potter's eyes went blank and the Goauld's eyes went permanently glowy. "Legilimens." He said again to himself, admittedly it had been a while since the whole 'stuck in a time loop, thing'. But Daniel had made him learn Latin, one annoying day at a time.

It certainly sounded Latin-y. Or it could just be magic, sorcery stuff.

Mens…was mind and…oh crap.

Jack looked up as Potter fell stumbling back. Jack aimed his weapon quickly thumbing the switch to kill and zapped the smug snake.

"Mind reader?"

"Yeah." Potter croaked out.

"Name, rank, home planet?" Jack said firmly.

"Potter, Harry. Captain. Earth."

"Well?"

"Ba'al was here."

"Damn."

"Seemed curious about sorcery."

"Where'd he go?"

"Give me a second, it's not often you have to dive into two minds Jack."

There was noisy thump across the bow of the ship. Jack craned to look over the window.

"Don't want to rush you Potter, but we're being shot at." The ship rocked as something exploded nearby.

"Yeah…right. I hope the…" He mumbled. "Raven to Hillingar, Raven to Hillingar. Coordinates for direct movement to bridge."

"Raven, coordinates are as follows…" A latitude and longitude followed. Then Harry pushed himself from the console and hugged him.

"Hey…what?"

"There's still background of the jamming field I need you close to my biomorphic field to make sure no bits of you get left behind."

"Okay…"

"Don't worry, you're not my type."

Then the ship disappeared or evaporated or something, then he was standing on the bridge of the ship he'd arrived in, and he was holding Potter up who'd crumpled and become dead weight into unconsciousness.

--/

_Okay, another late chapter. But this one is about double the length of my regular chapters so I think it's alright that it's come in later than usual._

_There were places to split this into two chapters, plenty of cut points in fact._

_But I wanted this to be the only chapter to involve NCIS, so it's the only chapter that's a double crossover (plus a throw back reference to __Alexandria Auction__). _

_The USS Bunker Hill is a real ship, which I chose at random but if anyone is curious it's a Ticonderoga class cruiser. The whole emergency power supply that appears is just a creation of mine. _

_I know in my 'trailer' last chapter it was going to be Jack and Teal'c. But Teal'c story will have a different feel to this chapter so it'll be dealt with in the next (or so) chapter._

_The same goes for Sam, Carter's story will be resolved next chapter (probably)._

_All these stories, Jack & Harry's, Sam Carter, Daniel Jackson and Teal'c's are all occurring at roughly the same time, give or take a few days or a week or so._

_I won't write a trailer for next week, as I'm not sure which characters I'll be focusing on specifically. _

_But here's a deleted alternate scene that was unwritten and redone:_

_**Deleted Scene – Alternative Harry intro scene**_

_quite nasty I would imagine." Said a voice with an odd accent inflection behind all of them by the doors. "Agent Gibbs please don't shoot Colonel O'Neill."_

"_Give me a reason why?"_

"_Because then there would be paperwork, so I'd obviously have to shoot you, in the leg or something, just to make it worth it." Said the voice, slightly annoyed and sounding tired._

_Thanks for reading._


	11. Chapter 11

Sam blinked, slowly the world came into fuzzy focus and she could smell the ozone, feel the heat…She tried to sit up and look a

Disclaimer: All characters, names, settings etc belong to their respective copyright holders, only Night Wolf and a few other things are of my own creation (but inspired from many things under copyright, which aren't mine).

**Chapter 11**

Sam blinked, slowly the world came into fuzzy focus and she could smell the ozone, feel the heat…She tried to sit up and look around. That's when she realised what was wrong.

"My legs." She started trying to keep the slight panic out of her voice. "I can't feel my legs."

"You're lucky. Suck this." Said one of the crew from the _platypus_ She took the ovoid shaped thing and placed it in her mouth and nearly spat it out again. It had an odd earthy, slightly salty taste and a gritty texture.

"What is it?"

"You must have pissed the Daleks off just the right amount." He continued.

"Why just right?"

"Because you'd be dead otherwise." He smiled, Sam blinked the sweat out of her eyes.

"My legs are still…"

"Paralysed, the Daleks only to that to people who have intrigued them enough to keep around…" He trailed off, Sam looked around, they were missing one of their number.

"Oh…I'm sorry." Then the door slid open and a man was thrown in.

The man beside her moved over to the man and helped him up against the wall of their cell before coming back to her.

"Doesn't he need…" She asked before trailing off, realising something and craned her neck looking around.

"First thing we disabled once we found it, they're not listening. He's just fatigued."

Sam nodded and then frowned slightly as he started to rub her legs.

"What…what are you doing?"

"Stimulating the blood flow in your legs, what you're sucking gives the process a boot, it's also a complex vitalising and stimulant. You've got to be careful though when they hook you up to the" He was cut off as the doors opened again and a Dalek and Ogron were outside.

"Bring the female." Ordered the Dalek to the Ogron.

"I know." She said looking at him.

Sam tried to push herself up from the floor, determined to try and walk, but everything from her thighs down was dead, not just unfeeling, it didn't feel like they even existed. The large bulk of the Ogron moved over and grabbed her in a fireman's life, none to comfortably.

She was hooked into the same device, but unlike the previous time the device was at just enough of an angle to keep her upright without putting _all_ her weight on her legs. Unfortunately it compensated by putting pressure on her arms and waist, both metal bands were digging into her flesh.

The buzzing in her mind began anew.

"You will explain this formula." Barked the head Dalek at her, it swivelled its eye stalk to a large screen set into the wall, Sam had to crane her head to look at it, it looked to be the power conversion equations that related to the Stargate.

Sam briefly wondered to herself what these Daleks could want to know with regard to the equations though she balanced against telling them something relatively useless rather than something they might actually want to know, things that she'd better not consider too forcefully, lest they become interested.

--/

There were an array of red warning signals alerting her to the fact that several explosions had just gone off in the already damaged secondary bays.

Jaymee ignored all the warnings, she knee there was damage given that the who ship was shaking, they'd lost gravity and the ship was vibrating and several of the other warning alarms were sounding in an annoying high pitch.

"Status!" Barked the commander over the noise of the alarms and a worrying groan that eminated along the ship.

"Massive explosions in secondary bays, bulkheads are down."

"Are we still locked on coordinates?" He asked interrupting her.

"Affirmative, no damage to engines or navigation, power systems are, gravity's impaired."

"Air?"

Jaymee paused for a second as she skimmed over the various warnings. "Loosing atmosphere through several breaches along secondary bays and surrounding areas, several of the bulkheads are jammed down."

"Put up the internals."

The centre of the three main screens fizzed and flashed before a schematic of the ship appeared, the areas around the lower forward section were flashing read designatine massive damage, with blue highlights surrounding it and other sections signalling a lose of atmosphere through those sections.

"How many have we got in the damaged sections?"

"A security squad was on its way to combat the Daleks, they are out off coms." Jaymee reported.

"What sorcery elements are active in the damaged sections?"

Several sorcery elements and charms had in fact been active prior to the explosion, following the initial damage caused by the Daleks attack several of the sorcery elements and charms activated. There was a certain blend along the areas of the ship that were closest to open space. Charms designed to suppress pressure and energy waves (common with explosions and decompression), fire, and atmosphere compensation to limit explosive decompression and loss of atmosphere. Most of these charms and sorcery elements had been active during the attack and had limited the damage caused by second explosions from the Dalek's self desturct.

"The fire suppressant charms are active, there's limited atmosphere that's been held in…" Jaymee faltered as a report from the security squad came through.

"Jaymee?"

"One of the security squad is trapped inside the damaged area, we can't get to him."

"Matter transmission?"

"Interference from the explosion, teleports are damaged, transmats can't penetrated."

"That section is ready to decompress." Commander Landman said staring the schematic of the ship.

"Matter transmission are prepping for a retrieval."

"Good, what's the repair status on long range coms?"

--/

Aonghus gritted his teeth and looked back towards the closed bulkhead door, he was going to get a bollocksing from the colonel for this one. The colonel said he had a 'saving people thing'.

He remembered when he was in school his mum said he'd make a fantastic dowser.

Dowsing never really suited him, he followed his grandfather's legacy and joined the Army, then the cross training with UNIT came up, opportunity of a lifetime…or something like that, that's how he thought of it. First people he could ask seriously about the whole dowsing thing.

Very low level psi ability was what it was, mostly it was a 'confluence of events and environment' an inkling that something might be going south.

Supposedly that was his saving people thing, pushing the rest of the squad out of the way…just not quick enough to get himself out.

The pain in his lower legs changed, and he looked around the carcase of a Dalek casing, there on his leg, still was a Dalek mutant, biting into his flesh.

Like little vampires, he was quite sure it was now either injecting carcinogens, poisons or its DNA into his leg, that was supposedly one of its survival techniques when they left their casings.

The only good Dalek is a dead Dalek as the his colonel said.

Supposedly the guys on the ship and on Earth of the research base could place when the Dalek was from depending on how gooey it was.

Aonghus didn't really give a shit when it was from, except that he couldn't blow it off his leg, partly because if he did he was relatively sure the shock would kill him, but mostly because his weapon was out of reach and he couldn't lean down and slice it off on account of it or one of its fellows casing lying on top of him.

There was another hiss, and that wasn't the mutant slowly trying to devour his leg like an over enthusiastic puppy.

_Puppy?_ He thought to himself.

"Definitely poison." He muttered, hissing to himself at the coldness of the atmosphere, there was another hiss.

Gazing around he saw it, or rather didn't see it.

The place where a wall should be was open space, hyperspace, which made it all the more worse, mainly the colour.

The only thing separating him from the cold hard vacuum from hyperspace, which was cold and as unforgiving as normal space were the charms and sorcery elements in the ship.

"Crap." He croaked to himself and started to calmly though quickly go through his pockets until he grabbed out a bar roughly the size of a chocolate bar, it had red wrapping and a great many warnings on it.

Slowly he unwrapped it, ignoring the warnings of; stroke, heart attack, coma, hyperoxia, migraine, seizure, the list went on and on.

He bit of the first part, chewing slowly and methodically swirling the gritty, bitter concoction around his mouth and slowly swallowing it and the instructions described.

Aonghus had like all of the squad done the 'surviving decompression' course, anyone who was going to be part of the squads on board a UNIT ship had to know that stuff.

But it wasn't something they actually tested you on, you did simulations on a low gravity moon, that had low oxygen levels, or in spaceships with a contained atmosphere and no gravity.

But the dangers were too high, ie possible death for UNIT to actually do a live test.

Aonghus bit off another piece of the bar as he felt his ears begin to pop, the charm holding what air he had in here was going to loose integrity any time now, grabbing around in another pocket of his jacket he removed a sealed piece of wood and broke it out of its packaging, activating it and aiming it at the area where the wall should be for a few moments as he chewed and looked back at it.

It had a dull glow around the orange to red, the charm was on its last legs.

Aonghus bit off the last section of the bar and started to read the inscription on it. It was a simple set of words and phrases designed to activate the potions and elements contained with the cocktail he'd consumed.

And it was a cocktail, deserving of its warnings.

It would slowly diffuse itself both from his mouth, down his throat and as his stomach acids activated the components in, distributing itself around his body.

Hyper-oxygenating his cells, while blocking, and closing areas such as his eardrums, nasal passages, and eyes a fine layer of a sorcery element utilising his own fat cells excretes would protect his skin and body. While the final words, muttered or even thought would seal his mouth and protect his internal organs.

Aonghus kept reminding himself to exhale, before the final words, otherwise he'd probably get half of the warnings, if he survived.

He spared a look at the charm indicator, it was wavering around the red line.

Folding his arms over his shoulders he ducked his head down as he felt his ears pop and with quick succession the charm breaking down, he whispered the final words and braced himself.

The interference cause by the Daleks' explosion was a deliberate effect and extended out away from the ship some distance, the ship was also moving at a speed.

When the section Sergeant Aonghus McDonald was in explosively decompressed the gravity field that was still in some small manner present held him close to the ship, before moving the ship moved away from him.

In total he spent 6 minutes exposed to vacuum before being plucked away to relative safety.

--/

"He's being taken to the Medical labs now sir."

"Alive?" Commander Landman asked, not turning away from the larger readouts of the ship.

"Yes sir."

There had been so far no reported casualties, Sergeant McDonald almost became the first.

They didn't have anything but short range communications, he'd need to wait until they were almost at Research Base One to call in for a rescue of their people from the Daleks.

--/

The Dalek commander studied the information gathered from the human female via the mind analysis machine. Brain readouts and physiological analysis showed that the female was giving true information.

Logic suggested that, while true it was not relevant.

However all information was some how relevant, therefore this information had no perceived relevancy, conclusion; the human female had information she did not wish to explain.

Humans were a weak species, this female had given information under the mind analysis machine, further information would need to be gathered using the human's greatest weaknesses…

"Ogron." The light gold coloured Dalek commander barked as Sam blinked away the sweat in her eyes, she was vaguely aware she'd been explaining the relative events of connecting a stargate, though she hadn't called it that to a black hole, all the while the buzzing in her head increased as images and numerals flashed on a screen just out of view without straining against the restraints that her to the machines.

"Master." The Ogron said slowly walking up to the Dalek. Sam wondered to herself how a species such as the Ogrons came to be subservient to the Daleks, though it could just be the same as the Goa'uld.

The Dalek commander swivelled around, studying the images the mind analysis machine was gathering, the arrival of the Ogron produced a psycho-memory response from the human female. Images of parasitical creatures and humans, these memories and images had occurred previously.

The Dalek commander had dismissed it as human psychological responses.

"Explain these images."

"Aliens…aliens we've encountered."

"Their craft is of an inefficient design."

Sam shrugged or tried to and tried not to thing of ships, or anything really, though not thinking wasn't her strong point.

"Explain their relevancy."

"Relevancy?" She queried the barked electronic question.

"Mind analysis confirms these parasitical creatures are linked in your memories to both your ship" Sam tried to think of something other than their greek named ship "and your home universe, you have knowledge you have…" It paused as though searching for the correct word "Secluded from the mind analysis machine."

"Really?" Sam said letting out a breath of the hot, ozone laden metallic air.

"You will release the relevant information."

"I have, just been, Dalek." Sam responded. The Dalek, it's eye stared at her for a moment.

"You will reveal the base location of the planet your craft and ship was launched from, you will assist in our calculations."'

If Samantha Carter had been General Jack O'Neill he would have asked 'Or what, you're going to sucker me or something?' But she wasn't.

"I've already tried, you're not listening."

"Listening is a simple, bipedal mechanism for interpreting information. Your responses to the mind analysis machine suggest you are not relating information relevant to the questions."

Sam stayed quiet.

"Ogron."

"Master?"

"Break the human female's right arm." It said looking back at her.

"No, no…I'll explain I'll…"

Sam registered there was a quite loud snap and more than a few different sensations of pain, she'd broken bones before and this was quite possible one of the worst.

Possibly because when the Ogron grabbed her right arm it crushed as well as breaking several of her bones in her arm and hand.

"The human body is a weak mechanism with more than 200 bones to break, you will explain how you arrived in this universe, you will assist in Dalek calculations, you will reveal the location of your base of operations…"

The demands went on as the buzzing in her mind increased and the paid ebbed and flowed like a tide, every time she thought she had a grip on the pain it would slip past her grasp as the buzzing of the machine intensified.

3 hours later Lt Col Samantha Carter was unceremoniously thrown back into the cell, with her right arm broken, patella on her left knee crushed, left fibula broken and left femur cracked. As she hit the floor of her cell 5 of her damaged ribs broke and she was knocked into blissful unconscious.

--/

Commander Landman looked through the reports on repairs, they'd just departed Research Base One, after a quick briefing and even faster repair whilst waiting for the ASCS _Narawntapu _to arrive, to travel with them along with the RSCS _Vanguard_ and ASCS _Onkaparinga_. He looked up at the recent coms data message they'd just received word that the RSCS _Formidable_ would be attempting an on-route meet up via hyperspace to assist them against the Dalek forces.

Even with the four ships they would still only possibly coming even against the Daleks in that particular environment.

High radiation and severe radiological and gravimetric interference were some areas where the Daleks liked to triumph over the 'weak' humans.

The battle strategy and analysis teams from the _Narawntapu, Vanguard, Onkaparinga _and his own hastily repaired craft had the time it took to travel back to the area to come up with a plan that didn't kill them.

--/

Four hours later a large group of Thylacines were flying through open space un-powered, as was platypus shuttle craft they were surrounding.

Three of the Thylacines were also towing hyperspace beacons, they were also un-powered, like all the craft they were flying through space on inertia only, the binary star in full bright view.

Their crafts had been reinforced with a selection of charms to proect against the radiation, each of the pilots had also been treated against radiation poisoning, though it was admitted they would most likely need further treatment following the mission, this close to a binary system the provisions were only theory not practically tested.

The 'plan' as it was, was to take three hyperspace beacons as close to the Dalek crafts as safely possible for the three craft ASCS _Onkaparinga, _RSCS _Vaguard_ and _Formidable_ to jump in from hyperspace. While the damaged ASCS _Mutawintji _flew in providing covering fire and support.

It was a…less than safe manoeuvre, considering the forces the Daleks were playing with and the power involved in operating jump engines.

But they wouldn't leave anyone behind.

The platypus shuttle, when they reached their designated location would stay in formation with the thylacines until it received confirmation of which of the three Dalek craft had their people, and then provide a deposit point for the transmat.

The strategists aboard the ships had determined that transmatting matter through that much interference to a ship would be a better job at mincing them than a food mixer, the shuttle would provide a deposit point for the transmat.

Any of the technology left aboard the Dalek craft would be destroyed during the attack.

--/

Inside Samantha Carter was unaware of the approaching ships as she coughed again, coughing up another mouthful of blood. She drew in another short breath of the hot, metallic air.

"You've probably got a collapsed lung."

Sam spat her mouthful of blood out.

"Anything you can…?"

"No. Not with what I have here."

"I had to tell them something, just about…" Sam paused to cough, coughing up more blood whilst trying to draw another breath of air. "Just elements of inter-dimensional travel." She shook her head, half of it even she was only half sure of.

"You did well, if the Daleks are resorting to this." He looked around at their fellows from the shuttle, who had similarly been assaulted by the Daleks in varying ways, not just physical but mental. "They must be very interested in the information."

"That their plan might not work?"

"Perhaps…" He was cut off as an explosion rocked the side of the ship, throwing Sam onto her broken in several places leg, she would have cried out, but just gurgled a cough as she pushed herself up with her relatively good hand. Now she wished the Daleks had stunned her legs for longer.

"Was that the Daleks starting or…?" One of the others question, he seemed to be staring off into the middle distance.

No one answered him as alarms reigned throughout the ship.

--/

It would have been a sight, had anyone on board the Dalek ships been looking out a window, had the Dalek ships had windows to look out of and had those Daleks been able to appreciate the subtle beauty in three blue vortexes opening in the space and three ships, with smaller vessels along side flying out opening fire on the unawares Dalek craft.

However they couldn't, having been caught unawares, preparing the final adjustments to the binary star and preparing their craft to enter it and travel to their destination, it was this distraction that the UNIT craft took full advantage of.

Thylacines streamed out and away from the ships taking out all smaller targets as the ships unleashed great swathes of weapons fire on the ships, their data targeting data relayed and triangulated by the _Mutawintji _as many of their systems were blinded by the cloxe proximity to the pulsars and from power being diverted to keep the ships stable and safe.

--/

"Do we have confirmation?" Commander Landman asked in a raised voice as the ship rumbled from the close proximity of the pulsars, his ship was reining down cover and distracting fire at the Daleks, it seemed to be working judging by the amount of the Daleks now on an intercept course with them.

The new algorithms to filter the interference out were having various levels of effectiveness, though guess work and wide patters of fire was working just as well.

"Not yet sir, _Onkaparinga _and _Formidable _and attempting final location of the survivors."

"And the shuttle?"

"Intact still sir, though its escort is encountering significant attack."

"Put up battle space."

"Battle strategy say they haven't worked out everything sir." The image flashed up on the screen, it was a series of question marks and blobs representing the ships.

"Can we get any closer?" Landman asked knowing the answer, if they got any closer the repairs might collapse leaving them open to another Dalek attack, also they were flying with a lot of the charms that usually encompassed the ship not active.

--/

"Come on, drag her over we need to get together." Someone said, Sam acknowledged to herself. She'd closed her eyes again, or maybe blacked out, or passed out, one of those.

The whole world bucketed and rolled.

"…if we were traveling through the Daleks' vortex we would have got…." There was another sound of explosion, someone was dragging her over. Sam pushed herself up again on her good arm and spat out another mouthful of clotted blood and took a ragged breath through her mouth. Despite its warmth the smoke laden air stung and gripped at her throat and lung.

"What's?" She started to ask.

"Rescue, or some pissed off neighbors." Someone answered.

"Hold onto something, if they try a transmat it's not going to be smooth."

Sam wasn't going to complain, she wasn't up to much at the moment except trying to stay conscious, she was worried if she fell unconscious again she mightn't wake again.

Then the world disappeared into a fizzing mass and she was deposited none too kindly on the deck of a shuttle craft.

"Hold onto yourselves this isn't going to be smooth." Someone shouted from the front of the craft. Everyone who wasn't strapped in or close to the floor was slammed into it as the shuttle performed an extreme manoeuvre away from the Dalek craft.

--/

"Signal received, platypus has them."

"Begin final assault."

The ships attacking the Dalek craft had initially only been using their energy cannons now switched focusing most power into their forward weapons blasting away at the Dalek crafts with a combination energy weapon / blasting and cutting curse fuelled weapons.

Two of the Dalek craft exploded under the onslaught and lowered defences but the third, the main one shot forward toward the singularity attempting to make the distance.

ASCS _Onkaparinga, _RSCS _Vaguard_ and _Formidable _were already maneuvering and re-orientating to reach a safe distance as it did so.

As the Dalek ship got into the vortex it had generated stray weapons fire still taking out the hoverbouts pecking at the _Onkaparinga, Vaguard_ and _Formidable _reached it, setting off an explosion.

The explosion sent out a disruption wave, hitting all four large ships and the smaller craft in the system.

--/

_Sorry again, about how long this chapter took to get out. _

_I had all the main ideas down (ship damaged, further interrogation, rescue), but it was the finer points and actually writing the thing that made me stumble in the writing of this one. _

_This was going to be a composite chapter with Harry and Jack as well as Sam's rescue. But Jack and Harry's adventures will hopefully be a bit lighter than all this, so I didn't think it would all go._

_Again, Teal'c adventures are bumped to another chapter (still currently unwritten but the ideas are there), they will come, his chapter will have a different feel to it than this or Harry and Jack's. I'll also probably return to Daniel as well in that particular chapter._

_There was going to be an extended 'torture of Sam' scene (where you'd see how she got the various injuries), and I was going to write it. But then I'd have to write more Dalek dialogue. Daleks are great if you want to impart major plot points, because they basically say what's there. But for questioning they're specific about what they want, so I need to actually come up with what they want (hence the Dalek commander repeats everything a bit)._

_What happens to Sam might be a little extreme, but the Daleks do have form for it, though they wouldn't see it as torture per se, more manipulating the (weaker) humans._

_Next chapter will be continuing the action with Harry and Jack._


	12. Chapter 12

Harry sat up quickly with a groan and looked around, not openning his eyes just feeling out with his other senses

Disclaimer: All characters, names, settings etc belong to their respective copyright holders, only Night Wolf and a few other things are of my own creation (but inspired from many things under copyright, which aren't mine).

**Chapter 12**

Harry sat up quickly with a groan and looked around, not opening his eyes just feeling out with his other senses.

There was that underlying scent that you always found in medical facilities.

Then it came flooding back like a damn breaking its banks and he wasn't so happy he had his eyes closed as the memory flooded back.

"Brilliant, just brilliant." He muttered to himself as he opened his eyes, squinting in preparation of a bright room, he was vaguely disappointed that the room wasn't bright.

There was an IV in his arm, though thankfully they hadn't seen fit to undress him and put him in those medical gowns.

Harry hated when they did that.

Getting naked was fine, he just preferred to be the one who did it, or at least be involved in the process, where was the fun if your were unconscious.

He grabbed the phone off to the side of the bed.

"Bridge." He said as he cleared his throat. "Captain. Yes. What about the body that was left on the American's ship?" Harry paused as the Captain explained. "Oh, that's interesting. Yes. Can you patch me through to Night Wolf Command, Sorcery Department. Thank you." Harry waited through the various procedures and shuffled along the bed and grabbed his chart off the front of the bed.

Multivitamin IV drip.

Various basic tests, showed mental stress high though within safe levels, just. Sorcery base levels, all over the place when he was first brought in.

Loss of consciousness a combination of exhaustion, stress and lacking in minerals and vitamins.

"Yes. Birmingham. Hello." Harry said placing the chart back on his bed. "Yes, just a minor bit of unconsciousness." Harry nodded as he listened to Birmingham. "No, not sorted out just yet. No, I don't think back up will be necessary, not where we need to go now…Yes outside the American's jurisdiction, though I think General O'Neill's experience will still be useful." Harry smiled as Birmingham asked more or less 'So why did you call?' "I need you to send an owl. Yes I did say an owl. Well mine are probably still off having baby owls or something. Yes, just write this on the letter…"

--/

Jack sat in the UNS _Hillingar_'s mess making his way through his second piece of peach and pecan pie and his second cup of really nice coffee as he considered what he'd informed the captain of this ship to do with the snakehead.

It had actually been a relatively easy thing to answer and give the information.

The Goa'uld had been 'removed' by a tactical team.

Jack supposed the moral quandary, if that was what it was, was having these guys storm aboard an American ship, a US Navy ship and take the snakehead and any of his tech that he'd left behind.

If the UN had done that on his Earth, his US armed forces, he'd be rightly pissed off. Just like when the Russians had stolen the gate and (with Maybourne's help) used it.

But this wasn't his Earth these people weren't fighting the Goa'uld…except in this case they were.

This was why he needed Daniel here, and Teal'c and Carter, they'd say…science-y things, or Daniel stuff, or Teal'c would look all calm and steal his pie.

Jack was glad a few minutes later when a crewman informed him Captain Potter was awake. Jack stood up and glared at the pie crust as though it was the source of his mind wandering.

"Screw it." He said as he grabbed the crust and stuffed it in his mouth and walked out of the mess.

--/

Harry was just refilling his pockets with all the stuff that had been removed when he'd been put on the bed.

He made a mental note to request a visit to the armoury and to stock up on a few other useful items.

"Harry Potter, you're awake."

"Jack, you're calling me Harry." He said looking up from the remains of things he had on the bed.

"Should you really have removed that?" Jack said motioning the needle and IV.

Harry shrugged non-comittally, he couldn't have put on his jacket if he'd left it in there and the bag was almost empty.

"So where're we headin'?" Jack said as he wandered through the medical beds and all.

"What did you find out in his head?" He asked looking at Harry.

"If I hadn't already had dreams and nightmares about megalomaniacs, controlling snakes and dreams of ethnic cleansing and world domination, looking inside that…life form's mind might have done."

"If you hadn't _already._"

"As they say been there done that…" He was cut off.

"Got the t-shirt, scars and psychological stuff."

"Something like that." Harry said as he finished stuff the remained of his things into his pockets.

"So where are we goin?"

"To tell the the captain this ship where to go."

"Yeah, you can't tell me on the walk to the bridge?"

"It's not a big ship Jack, you can wait." Harry said smiling, though inside he was ambivalent.

"Venice. Captain are you sure?"

"Quite."

"Stealth approach?"

"it's your ship captain, we're just passengers, but yes. Not too close either _it is_ Venice." Harry added.

"Venice. Why would a snakehead want to go there?"

"Lets go get a bite to eat and I'll tell you my life story." Harry said casually as they walked out of the bridge.

--/

"So, just to recap, Unicorn blood, living on a guy's head, and this guy goes looking for a stone and you kill him with your bare hands?"

"Mmmhmm." Harry mumbled around a piece of steak.

"And you had to chuck him into a star."

"Yeah, but we're getting ahead."

"Yeah." Jack said and forked away a piece of another pie and then wondered if there was another steak going. Supposedly they were taking their time getting in to Italy, Potter, Harry didn't explain why, something sorcery based no doubt, actually Jack didn't really care.

"All this relates to alchemy, sort of."

"Like what they were using on the ship." Jack said grinning then his smile fell as Harry looked up and the words 'Yes you're exactly right' weren't on his lips'.

"Sort of. It relates to that and the information they had or had been researching. Alchemy is difficult, more than that it's very difficult and the results are okay some of the time."

"Base metals into gold." Jack said suddenly, he was sure that was Daniel's knowledge not something he'd read. Harry nodded.

"But there are other things that alchemy did, it was a magic art that first began to mix what became chemistry into sorcery. It's evolved slowly over the last couple of hundred years, it's not really something I've followed actively."

"No interesting enough?"

"Sort of. It's more the interest of historians and archaeologists, I have a passing interest but the in-depth stuff I leave to those people."

"Yeah I'm sure Danny would have a field day."

"I'm sure Dr Jackson is having a time of his life wherever he is."

"Yeah. As long as the Space Monkey comes back alive and in one piece." Jack added before looking from his drink to Harry. "So what's this all got to do with the guy who tried to kill you?"

"A couple of times."

"He didn't just try to kill me once."

"Whatever."

"Fine. It's got to do with the stone. It's not just a gem, it's called the _Philosopher's_ _Stone_." Harry said with an odd smile on his face, the past really does come back to haunt you, in more odd ways than he previously had thought possible.

"And…or are you just pausing for drama?"

"Sorry." Harry smiled briefly. "It's a thing that among other things can grant immortality."

"Ah…crap."

"Yeah, I got that from the Goa'uld's mind, Ba'al was rather interested in that part of it."

"He would be." Harry raised an eyebrow. "From what Teal'c told me these Goa'uld can swap bodies and whatever staying alive just by swapping bodies."

"Yeah. There's that. But Ba'al is a big, nah huge egomaniac, he has cloned himself for crying out loud."

"There is that." Harry suppressed a shudder as he thought about Voldemort cloning himself, but Tom was way too paranoid to clone himself, plus the whole disliking muggles thing wouldn't have helped.

"The other reason?"

"What?"

"You were seemed to be heading for another reason as to why Ba'al'd want the stone."

"The snakes get to an age when they can't jump ship and then just get to die in the body they're in."

"Right." Harry said as he forked up a mouthful of salad.

"Why Venice?"

Harry raised an eyebrow as he chewed.

"Why're we going to Venice, why'd Ba'al go there, how'd he get there?"

"Stole one of the ships escorting the US ship."

"And?" Jack stared at shaking his open palms.

"You can't just cook up a Philosopher's stone in your back yard, you need certain ingredients, in a certain circumstance, they need to be treated to certain surroundings. There needs to be a…" Harry trailed off. "A vibe to the location, we're it's created needs to sit on certain ley lines and some other things."

"You know all this for something you leave to others?"

"A friend did some research and continue doing it after the 'killing with my hands' incident."

"So why not else where?"

"The Nile isn't as clean as it was when it was first cooked up, India's alchemical community was developed into…something I'm not sure and Greece has other magical contenders that supposedly make it complicated. Plus Venice has a quality all of its own."

"_Sorcerer Captain Potter report to the bridge."_

"That's our cue."

Jack blinked. "Why don't I get a page?"

--/

"So why not just use your fancy do-dickies and look for the snakehead."

The captain of the UNS _Hillingar_ looked over at Harry who shrugged as he chewed on the power bar he'd grabbed on the way out of the mess.

"Show him."

"Sorcerer." The captain walked into the centre of the bridge. "Bring up surface level scans of Venice."

"Sir…" One of the officers began.

"Just as an example."

"Yes sir."

"So why the problems? You guys fight in huge space battles that make my playstation look like pac man."

"You've also got a spaceship Jack." Harry pointed out.

"A broken one." He looked at Harry accusingly.

"I didn't break it."

"You won't help fix it."

"You never asked, me personally." Harry countered.

"Sorcerer?" The captain addressed the pair with an amused look.

"Show the colonel."

"Visual scans up."

The curved screens that dominated the front of the bridge that at first glance seemed to be windows out to the outside world were screens built around more or less the same design as UNIT's space craft.

"Venice is one of the unique places on Earth" Harry said as the scanner images overlaid each other. "We can do a visual scan from…where are we?"

"You can manage a spaceship but you don't know where we are on Earth?"

"Yes that's exactly that Jack."

"Really?"

"No." Harry responded sarcastically.

"East of Rimini Sorcerer Captain, we are on line of sight."

"Great."

"Why is it all fuzzy?"

"As I was saying, we can do a visual scan of the city."

"You mean look at it."

"Yeah." Harry wondered how Jack would respond if he kicked him in the shins. "But due to a great many factors unless we dropped several magic jamming devices and beefed up the scanning equipment all we get it…"

"Contrast hell."

"You don't want to know the factors?" Harry asked.

"Nah, not really." Jack shrugged.

"Fine. Captain, We'll need a visit to the armoury and to stock up on sorcery elements."

"Do you need a boat Sorcerer?"

"No, as long as we're on a line of sight I'll get myself and the Colonel there thank you captain."

--/

"The sea air is nice isn't it?" Harry said, they were standing on the stern of the catamaran looking across the sea. In the very distance Jack could just maybe make out Venice.

"Can you even see it?" He said squinting. He was handed a pair of binoculars by Harry.

"I could with these." Jack shook his head.

"Shoul ya really be doing the…" He waved hands around.

"Egyptian dance?" Jack glared at him.

"The shimmery, shadowy, windy transport thing."

"I'm feeling much better."

"Why can't we take the boat offered?" Jack almost whined, it would have been nice to sail…well motor into Venice.

"Because the _Hillingar_ needs to go looking for the US Navy's ship, and if we took a boat they'd have to wait around for it, or we'd leave, either way arriving like that would attach certain ideas to us."

"But arriving out of the ether won't." Jack commented.

"Not really, but when people do in Venice they're drawn to certain locations."

"That a fact?"

"According to a friend of mine yes."

"Very knowledgeable friend."

"She likes to think so."

Harry took the binoculars back off Jack and had a final look around before handing them to the crewman behind them.

"Right, time to leave I think."

"Already, don't you need to…plot coordinates or something?"

"No, it's more of a feeling."

"Great so…" Jack looked at him oddly. Harry looked back. "You need to hug me now."

"Not with the crewman watching." Harry smiled and put a hand on his shoulder. "Just a hand."

"Do I need to…" Jack started as they disappeared.

--/

Jack inhaled air and the scents associated, gone was the view of the sea from the catamaran and now they were standing in an alcove, in what was presumedly Venice, he could hear people, the sound of water splashing, engines in the long away background.

"Ok, that was different."

"Yes." Harry said simply as he led the way out into the crowd and looked around them, there were pigeons everywhere.

Jack looked around him, he was in Venice, a moment ago he'd been on a ship in the Adriatic Sea.

Now there were pigeons cooing around Harry Potter.

"This happen to you often?"

"Often enough, off you go guys and girls." He said with a grin, and if by…Jack stopped himself thinking the M word, the pigeons all around them took to the skies.

_**3 Hours Later…**_

"Do you _even _know where you're goin'?"

"Not really." Harry replied as they walked down another more or less deserted laneway.

"Then what are we doing?"

"Waiting. Jack. For what?"

"Yeah."

"To be contacted."

"And…your contacts don't have phones?"

"I sent an owl, they'll get back to me."

"An…You did just saw owl right?"

"Yep."

Jack just nodded, he was determined that the day wasn't going to surprise him.

Hell, mermaids they'd asked for directions, that he decided was the highlight of the day. Or maybe it was the painting that asked him how he was enjoying his drink when they'd stopped in a café that was tucked away somewhere, that ranked up there as well.

But owls, why couldn't they just use radios, or phones or…

"Venice stands half way between the setting sun and the rising sun, there is no direct way Jack."

"And the snakehead who's plotting somewhere in this midday city?"

"As I said, _it_ will take time to _assemble _and _use_. Come on."

"Who is it you're waiting to be contacted by again?" Jack asked, again, as they crossed a narrow bridge between two of older buildings.

"Harry James Potter." Said a voice behind them. Jack stopped his hand going to his gun, which he was relieved was still there, but he didn't draw it, just yet.

He did turn around and saw the Harry was already facing the woman behind them.

"Hey…you got my message then."

"Long time no see, you don't write, you don't call."

"We met up last Winter Solstice!" Harry said defensively.

"That was two years ago."

"I've been busy."

"Saving the world I suppose. Ravens are busy creatures."

"I'm more than a raven."

"Umm…Hello?"

"Sorry." Harry turned away from the woman and Jack got his first good look at her.

She had an…open, almost dreamy like quality to her. Her dirty blond hair seemed to hang in a loose pony tail down to her knees, and she had odd eyes that seemed to stare past Harry to him.

"Luna Lovegood may I introduce…"

"Colonel Jack O'Neill, formerly of the Royal Air Force, a Group Captain, now working for your secretive organization, saving the world and whatever else you do, Harry Potter."

"Yeah, that's about it."

"No…no it isn't Colonel O'Neill." She sad walking past Harry to come face to face with him, which considering she was shorted than him was an interesting feat. "You're disjointed, away from your home. Snakes ruled your life. More so than Harry, and he fought them, so did you."

"We still are Luna." Harry murmured softly but with a hard edge interjecting in her spiel which sounded almost like poetry. Luna turned around to face him, a smile on her face.

"Everyone comes to Venice for a reason, I'm sure yours will be very interesting, knowing the plots you get yourself into Harry Potter" She paused and then turned back to Jack. "And you Jack O'Neill, your plots have yet begun to start."

--/

Jack looked around the rooms he found himself in, he tried not to think about how he got here.

Not because it was weird, far from it.

But it annoyed him, all his training and everything and…when he tried to recall what happened, all it seemed like was a blur of some laneways and corridors and then he was in what looked like a ballroom, that had had a makeover to look like a writer's room from the 16th century mixed with a French café and other weird styles which made him thing potions, sorcery and apothecary. However after the last few days he didn't know whether that just came from hanging out with these Night Wolf people and Harry Potter or from what he'd seen with the Stargate and Daniel's fascination with old books and stuff.

Then a centaur walked through the room looking a little lost.

"Second door on the right." Harry said looking up from the open books.

"Grazie."

After it walked out Jack decided he'd had enough.

"That's it."

"What?"

"What, what?" Harry nodded.

Jack just looked around him and wondered if there was beer anywhere, or hemlock.

"There isn't. I have some Zantedeschia, I bought some from Draco the last time he dropped by, who did you want to kill Colonel O'Neill?" Said the calm, slightly dreamy though seemingly straight to the point in a round-a-bout manner.

"…" Jack started to say something but gave up half way through and just decided to shut his mouth.

"Here." She passed a blue rose each to Harry and Jack.

"Luna?"

"Hmm?"

Harry held up the blue rose.

"You're here to find someone, someone important, there's a party tonight, you should attend."

"Okay."

"I'll see you in the evening." She smiled and walked out of the room.

_**Later that afternoon…**_

Jack when Jack opened his eyes there was a large bird standing by the window watching the gondolas pass by the window.

Then he realised it wasn't a bird, it was a Captain from UNIT who had brought him on what was possibly the most insane trip he'd ever been on and he'd had aged to an old man, had the entire knowledge of the ancients in his head _twice_ and watched Carter blow up a sun.

Potter also looked like he'd showered.

"Aren't you going to be stand out just a little bit, I didn't notice too many guys with wings today, _despite_ all the weird crap."

"Weird Jack?" He said turning from the window, his wings folding around him in an almost unnatural manner.

_Not_ that he'd actually met any people with wings, he'd made a mental note to order Carter to find some aliens with wings.

Though his luck, as soon as they got back to the SGC Earth would be hit with another set of cultist wacky alien people bent on wiping them out, probably something worse than the snakeheads.

"You're thinking about your home again." Came the dreamy, though oddly direct in a non-direct sort of way, voice across the room.

"I am? I was thinking about food, and fishing, I like fishing."

"You were thinking of your castle under the ground, with its whirlpool to the stars and the gateway to heaven."

Jack turned around, Lovegood was standing in the middle of the room, her hair had been pulled up and held in a complex twists and turns held with two sticks, dressed in a deep green and blue dress that could have come straight out of the…actually Jack didn't really care, she looked. Younger, than how he'd seen her earlier in the day, it really didn't feel like the same day.

There was also a coat hovering behind her.

"This is for you." She gestured as the coat hovered over to him, he looked at Harry who nodded. "It'll cover your weapons up, also black suits you."

"So what's this party we're goin' to?"

"A chance to meet, talk, and judge the mood. As Harry has no doubt said a Philosopher's Stone is not something you create, even with a worm in your mind and snakes in bellies."

Jack wondered if she was telepathic, and if she was, was there anything, short of shooting her he could do about it.

He didn't think Harry would appreciate it if he shot one of his friends.

"No, he wouldn't Colonel O'Neill, and I'm not."

"Lookin' inside my head?"

"Nothing but neurons firing and ideas churning. You're special Colonel O'Neill."

"Really? Usually it's 'O'Neill you're a nuisance.' Or 'Jack you're a pest…'" Jack said as he stared at Lovegood, she stared back meeting and holding his gaze.

"Just not here and not now." Harry cleared his throat, braking the staring contest between them.

"If you're finished Luna?"

"Yes, of course, I'll just let the nargles out for the night and we should depart."

"Nargles?" Jack asked as she left the room.

Harry laughed to himself. "Don't ask."

"Is she telepathic?"

"Not that I know of?"

"I sense a but of planet sized proportions."

"Luna is, more perceptive than other people." Harry said struggling to put into words the concept of Luna Lovegood. While they'd met up semi-regularly over the last few years here and there, precisely what she did and who she was…was another story. Of course there was the dreamy personality, which used to annoy Hermione so much, but under all that was a very shrewd smart individual.

Plus the people he'd seen coming to see her for, for whatever it was spoke volumes, he just wasn't sure which section of the library he was reading the volumes, or if he was actually looking at a radio.

Luna's face swam into view, he'd been staring into the middle distance again.

"Maurits liked to think like that. But you're not a famous artist Harry, despite your achievements."

"Thanks."

"Maurits?" Jack asked, stuffing his hands in the deep pockets of the coat which was oddly comfortable despite the heat left in the day,

"Maurits Cornelis Escher I would imagine." Harry smiled smugly at Luna, she just sniffed dismissively.

As they were about to step out the door Luna stopped.

"If you could avoid killing any of my clients it would be appreciated. Come on."

"Exactly how long have you known her?" Jack asked as he walked beside Harry as they passed along the bridges, laneways, though the arched doorways and crumbling buildings.

"Since I was in school."

"The same school that you…"

"Yeah that one, though she wasn't there during the whole stone, hands killing fiasco."

"Just the other fiascos?"

"Yeah. It seems we've arrived."

Jack stared at their location that they'd arrived at. A staircase that disappeared into a canal.

"Come on." Lovegood said before the water reached up and swallowed her.

"You know how that rowing song goes?"

"Row, Row?" Jack said looking up and down the narrow canal.

"Gently down the stream." Harry said as he took a, less than confident step toward the dark water.

Jack stared as the winged Captain Sorcerer Potter disappeared below the water.

He was pretty sure he could just go now, find the airport and go back to the UK…okay money might be a problem. Steal a plane, he could do that.

"This is freaking weird." He said to himself as he walked down the stairs and it was almost as though the water tugged on him and he was drawn into a world of intrigue.

Which turned out to be a corridor and another set of stairs.

Harry was leaning against the corridor wall.

"Bit of a let down isn't it?"

Jack was just relieved he wasn't treading water.

"Yeah."

"Party's this way." Jack made a move towards the stairs, Potter held him back.

"What?"

"The yellow powder in your right pocket." He tapped Jack's hand.

"It's a…revealer." Harry smiled.

"It is, a tiny amount just rub your fingers in it and a few specks over anything you eat or drink."

"Should I be worried."

"Enough to keep your weapon ready and be careful what you drink and eat, Venice isn't what it seems, this party even more so." He said, darkly.

"I could just not eat."

Harry smiled. "That would mark you out, we probably wouldn't last 10 minutes, very impolite, we'd be saying we don't trust them."

"But checking every thing I consume is just careful."

"Yes. And keep the different rounds handy."

"Gold, Silver, Bronze, Poisoned. Miss anything?"

"There's the super hardened, enhanced tipped ones in both breast pockets. Good for strengthened armour." Harry turned away from the wall and motioned toward the stairs.

"And the energy stun kill weapon?"

"Use liberally if the need arises." Harry said as they walked out into a sea of colour and noise.

Jack was surprised, he was actually enjoying himself, none of the food was poisoned, the liquid was…probably fruit based, or knowing how his luck rolled probably the milk of a fruit bat.

Harry was, somewhere, walking around the edges. The people here didn't seem totally weirded out by the guy's wings, but some still seemed drawn to it and him.

He didn't seem to like it, the attention.

Though despite enjoying himself he didn't forget why he was here, though how you casually asked about a alchemical thing was a whole other question.

--/

Harry wasn't really enjoying himself if he was perfectly honest.

It was wild, amazing and interesting.

Earth, Venice.

A wild party, with wacky people, interesting consumes, food from the edges of the Earth, sorcery in the air and music that was an odd mix of the 18th century and the mid-20th.

Yet he wanted to be back on the _Hattah_ watching an asteroid fly through space and weird stuff happening to it.

Maybe it was just the feeling he had, the feeling as though he'd already done all this.

Old fart evil wankers, an old building and somewhere a wacky megalomaniac cooking up his immortality.

Then he saw it and looked across the room at Jack and nodded to him.

One of the waiters had an S shaped weapon on his waist.

There was also the small bomb under the tray that Harry could see from his vantage point.

Jack caught Harry's eye from the lower level that Harry was on and followed it down to one of the waiters, who had a zat on his belt.

He looked back at Harry who looked worried.

"Crap." Just when the buffet was changing over too.

Jack ran, pushing his way through the crowd as he checked his holstered weapon, armour piercing rounds.

The guy was reaching for the zat, while keeping the tray held in the other hand.

"Hold it." He shouted when he was barely in range.

The guy only barely turned when he was hit with a blueish light from the direction Harry was moving, and then suddenly he was beside the guy. That weird shadowy, misty thing again.

Jack rushed up quickly disarming him as Harry was supporting the tray.

"Does that really matter?" Jack asked looking at the glass and gold flutes of champagne.

"It does when there's a bomb underneath."

"Ah, right."

"Check him for anything else." Harry said as he lowered the body to the ground and reached into his pocket and threw a combination of substances into the air surrounding them.

Harry gave the people who were looking at them a look and they peeled away slowly avoiding them, despite the fact they were in the middle of the crowd, he found that they were quickly ignored.

"What've you got?"

"Vials of something and some C4."

"How much?"

"The compression shockwave in here would be enough to take out everyone within a meter around, whatever in these vials I doubt is fairy dust. Him?"

"Zat…some more vials." Jack held them up. Harry was crouched down staring at the device.

"What colours?"

"Blue and red you?"

"The same…umm…use the yellow and grey powders, on the glass, don't open the vials."

"Right and this will tell us?"

"If it's poisonous, and how bad, if it luminesces we're in deep shit."

"I do believe, Colonel O'Neill is already in, deep, shit, as you would say." Said a voice both Harry and Jack recognised from behind them, then the music went silent and the lights went out. Almost instantly the room was illuminated by a series of Lumos charms, orbs of light and flares from unidentified sources.

Also one person's eyes flashed in the gloom.

"Ah, crap."

"Indeed Colonel O'Neill." Then he raised his voice. "Greetings to all Venetians. I am…"

"Pause for drama." Jack muttered.

"Lord Ba'al, and you all will most certainly die."

--/

_This chapter actually went on longer, and I had intended to finish Harry and Jack's adventures in one chapter._

_But there's a lot to pack in so it's running to two._

_Back to the beginning and then some. Luna Lovegood hasn't appeared since way back in __Sorcery, UNITed Independence, Space__. But she was the perfect person to be in Venice._

_Also the Philosopher's Stone, why not it's perfect for an egomaniac like Ba'al to be after, to create no less, very ostentatious._

_Why Venice? No reason but I liked the idea of setting a story there, it also was a nice lead in from all the stuff with the navy._

_Thanks for reading, next chapter will continue Jack and Harry's adventures._


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Disclaimer: All characters, names, settings etc belong to their respective copyright holders, only Night Wolf and a few other things are of my own creation (but inspired from many things under copyright, which aren't mine).

**Chapter 13**

That was when he was his with half a dozen green spells, which whacked in a show of colour and static into a shield surrounding him.

"Yours spells of death will not harm me." He paused looking around the crowd and then said with total certainty. "I am a god."

"Yeah right."

"Bring him up." Ba'al motioned to Jack. He was pulled up, Harry watched almost surprised that Ba'al didn't seem to care about him, and drew his wings around himself, and disappeared, reappearing as a raven in the rafters.

"A curious concoction, but I do enjoy this world." Ba'al said holding the vials that were giving off an unnatural glow.

"Thank you for attending tonight, my…" He looked at Jack. "Minions will now take what I need."

Harry looked around as he heard some sort of weapons flare up around the whole crowd.

Then someone tried to fight, a red and orange…mass of energy pumped into the man's chest and he slumped to the ground.

"Just do what he says!" Jack shouted around at the crowd. "_He_ isn't worth dying for it." He said in a lower voice to himself.

"You hold a crowd well O'Neill, but you are merely the matinee, I am the main show." Then he held a hand up and blasted the crowd away and made his way towards the bar. "Bring him." He motioned to Jack.

Harry watched as Ba'al's 'minions' made their way out across the crowd.

They were taking everything from jewels to feathers from hats to what Harry could tell were valuable ingredients these people kept on their person for some reason.

There was a scream from across the room. Harry flew in a short glide over to another rafter and then saw the cause of the scream, or rather the person who had screamed as she had her head shaved, the hair of the blonde centauress' hair was sealed in a bag.

Harry continued to look around until he saw a woman standing on the edge of the room, watching in almost eager fascination with wide eyes but a carefully controlled expression, she almost seemed to blend into the background.

Harry shifted his concentration and disappeared, reappearing in the shadows behind her.

"He is quite a confident being in person isn't he?" She said as though she were talking to herself.

"So was Voldemort." Harry whispered into her ear and then added. "Voldemort was fruitier than a nut loaf though."

"And the snakeman isn't?"

"You tell me Ms Lovegood?" He murmured watching as Ba'al sipped what looked like a fine cognac and chatted to Jack, Jack looked like he wanted to gouge the man's eyes out.

"What did you make of the toxins captain Potter?"

"You saw?"

"I see what others don't." She said with a casualness that actually made it sound less like conviction and more like fact.

"I'm more curious about this." Harry produced the blue rose from his sleeve and slipped it into Luna's hands.

Luna shrugged.

"A simple protective measure, _I_ know you Harry Potter."

"Really?" Harry pretended to be shocked.

"Trouble follows you."

"Which as far as predictions go Luna, isn't brilliant." Harry couldn't tell, since he was whispering behind her but this comment didn't seem to go down well.

"A simple protection, your Colonel would have been safe if he'd left it in his lapel." Harry looked back over to where Ba'al and Jack were sitting, he could just make out something blue stuffed into Jack's pocket.

"Perhaps." Harry whispered and then disappeared as one of Ba'al's 'minions' waltzed over to them holding a glowing piece of crystal before walking away.

"What do you think of them?"

"Me?"' Luna asked innocently.

"Yes, you, Luna Lovegood."

"Mr Potter who works in a secret organization wants my opinion."

"Just because I thought your prediction sucked. Damn…" Harry muttered to himself, _now_ he sounded like Jack.

"Couples do take on one another's subtleties Harry." She chuckled, Harry stared at the side of her face, he knew she was grinning _and_ making fun of him despite the circumstance.

"How many of the his "minions" have you seen come in?"

"I would have thought your viewpoint was far superior to my humble viewpoint Harry."

"_But _this is your city Luna, and not everyone is a victim." Harry said, ducking into the shadows as another person walked past carrying the long staff weapon.

"At least 10." She said softly. "A few more in the crowd."

"Five or so in the crowd, definitely supporting him." Harry added. He looked up as a blue light, like a bolt of energy flew across the room hitting someone, making them yell and writhe on the ground.

"You."

"Uh Harry…"

"I see Luna." Harry said in a low tone as he looked around, most people were ignoring them, even more so now that one of the heavies had taken notice of them.

Harry considered the pistol or the S/K-2, the former even with a silencer made _a_ noise, and he didn't want to use the S/K-2 while Ba'al was in the room, even through they were separated by a considerable crowd and he appeared to be enjoying the fine spirits on offer while annoying Jack.

"Yes?" Harry said calmly, keeping one hand behind his back and raising his left hand in a defensive position, he tried to keep an open look of mild fear on his face as he looked at the large staff weapon that was being pointed at him by the equally, well vaguely so tallish man.

"Come with me, you were not present when our Lord ordered the initial counting of scum."

"Scum, been a while since I was called that." Harry commented.

"Come now or you will perish here." The front of the staff weapon flared open, orange energy crackling over it.

"My what a big staff you have, you must have real size issues."

"What?" The man said jabbing it towards Harry, but as he did so Harry moved forward grabbing the weapon and pulling the man towards him and swiftly and forcefully sliding the knife into the man's chest and twisting.

Harry pushed the man to the ground, clamping a hand over his nose and mouth, a second later her was dead.

Harry pulled the knife out of the man's chest, and re-sheathed it.

He pulled the body around Luna who was watching with…Harry couldn't read the expression on her face, it wasn't neutral though it wasn't…anything really a whole bunch of very subtle expressions that were carefully hidden behind that layer of context and intellect that Luna possessed.

He pushed the body into the corner of the room, he decided against any magic on the body for the time being, just in case anyone was paying attention.

He rolled the body over and hopefully no one would notice he was one of bad guys' team.

He returned to stand behind Luna a moment later.

"Was that really necessary Harry Potter?" Luna somehow made his whole name sound like she was

"_You _can talk Luna."

"Can I?" She asked innocently.

"Yes. _You _can. Did you know they had a matter transmigration inhibiting system in place?"

"If you're going to speak gibberish, at least say something I can understand."

"Like the mating habits of Polka dotted horses you mean?"

"Really?" She asked surprised.

"Only vaguely. There's something blocking apparition, or were all these people just hanging around here for the fun of it?"

"I did know about _that_. It was to ensure the exclusivity, you can still leave, it _is_ a one way system." Luna answered, her tone was almost mocking, though sometimes it was hard to tell with Luna.

"You know what they say about those."

"What do _they_ say Harry Potter?"

"The arrow can point the other way."

"What about you?"

"I'm as stuck as everyone else." Harry answered, he could get around the room alright but when he'd tried leaving it felt like there was the weigh of the ocean on him, and when he thought about it there probably was, at least the weight of all the water in Venice above them.

"Something's happening." Luna said breaking his musing.

"Probably something bad, I'm going to do something."

Before Luna could ask what Harry had disappeared.

--/

"Now you've got your booty, what next crime lord? Art thief? Bank robber?" Jack asked as Ba'al leaned back surveying the crowd like a Mafia boss…or pimp in some seedy bar.

Though considering the look some of these people were giving the snakehead they looked like…Jack stopped that train of thought right there and then, he didn't want to even consider thinking about it. Venice, these Venetians were weird.

Harry's friend didn't even register as far as weird, she was…hell he didn't have a word for it.

Harry Potter was another person who actually wasn't around.

He'd had a quick look around when Ba'al had been absorbing himself in drinking and torturing people, and looking at him in that weird way that took him _way_ back to those not so fun times and the constant torture that still gave him…bad dreams.

He was beginning to feel like he'd been ditched at a crazy party, if it wasn't for Ba'al, the possibility of being stuck in this universe and the various people touching him oddly he might have started to have a good time. If it weren't for the possibility of being poisoned and the Centaur who had been giving him the evil eye.

It wasn't his fault he'd never seen a naked centaur before.

"Now, O'Neill I shall" He paused and turned to smile at him. Jack noted his breath reeked of brandy, fancy brandy at that, but he still smelled like a drunk. "I shall kill you all." He smiled. "But take to heart, they will all assist in my endeavours."

"So you're gonna let me live?" Jack asked optimistically.

"No. Your death does not help my endeavours, that is not to say I will not enjoy it."

"Crap. You couldn't make an exception?"

"An interesting suggestion O'Neill, you would throw all these lives' for your own?"

Jack shrugged.

--/

"_Crap. You couldn't make an exception?"_

Harry raised en eyebrow and hoped the curtain to was hiding behind, not his best piece of camouflage but it was the only bit that was on a line of sight, without anyone, well anyone who wasn't holding a weapon in the way.

He checked his pistol again and tried to recall what had been said following the debrief that Night Wolf was given regarding the shields the Goa'uld could generate.

When Ba'al had arrived the magic had thwacked into it.

But as he cast his mind back he could have sworn Ba'al had been generating it, his hands were at least somewhat busy.

Plus, shielding technologies came in all shapes, sizes and effectiveness.

He'd decided anyway that he was going with the tried and true method of shoot first, interrogate whatever's left later. He weighed the bag of sorcery materials in his other hand, hopefully that would cause enough mild confusion to allow him to get at least 5 shots into Ba'al.

Harry shifted as Ba'al turned around to address the crowd.

"Thank you, citizens of Venice, you have been most helpful in my endeavours." There was almost a sigh of relief that went out throughout the crowd as Ba'al's flanged voice resonated around the room. "You will now continue to service me, by your eternal deaths." He paused smiling. "I award you this time, to prepare for death…" He was cut off from saying anything more as three bullets impacted into his back, curtesy of a man, on the other side of the room.

The following two impacted with little effect as a shield was flung up around him.

"Hardly anyway to treat a god."

"If you're a god, then I'm an angel." Harry said dropping his gun and grabbed for his knife, then something unexpected, dually so happened.

"_If you're a god, then I'm an angel." _Jack heard Harry comment and grinned as he was grabbing for his knife.

"I don't think so." Said a voice coming from the doorway, an energy blast flung Harry across the room _past _Jack and Ba'al and into the far wall knocking him unconscious.

Jack didn't dwell on it for the moment and drove his own knife into where he hoped the snake was in Ba'al's spine, there was at least satisfying noise as it slid into flesh.

But it didn't last as the figure who had shot at Harry came into view.

"That hurt Colonel." The _second_ Ba'al noted.

"Help your god." The second Ba'al motioned to the first who was slumped against the bar bleeding profusely.

"Cloning more of yourself, isn't it enough you go all _6__th__ Day_ in one universe you have to go the cliché in another one, hell even that is one, don't tell me, you've come to take him away, you're the good Ba'al."

"Oh O'Neill, I wish I could watch you die." The second one said as the first was led out.

"So why not, you've got a spare?"

"Unfortunately I have more important matters to attend to." Then he threw a ball down on the ground, it was only after the bright light had flared out and the noise had started Jack realised what he'd thrown down.

It was still a clichéd way to leave the room as his perceptions were overloaded.

Harry groaned as someone threw a cup of water on his face.

"Wha…what happened?"

"You were hit by a technologically influenced tele-psyionic blast initiated by the individual known as Ba'al, a second version of him, rather interesting if you think about it."

Harry blinked again as the room swam back into focus, and the loud chattering, mild panic and that smell that came from lots of people in a room, sweating and panicking and generally running out of air came.

At least they weren't dead.

"We soon will be." Came that voice, Luna Lovegood's voice.

"He's cloned himself several times." Harry said answering Luna's previous statement as he pushed himself up, brushing the dust off himself.

"I…I don't think so Harry" She shook her head as he looked at her. "Not at all. He was one and the same."

Before Harry could dwell on the ramblings of his old friend, Jack shouted at him.

"You're awake. Get over here before I blow us up."

"Never a dull moment with you Harry Potter."

"See and you're the one wanting me to visit more often." Harry said as he rushed over to the table that Jack was sitting at looking at the bombs, and the vials, there were others around him staring at him, the bombs and the vials, seemingly discussing what it all meant.

Very bad things in a very short while, was the short answer.

Jack was on lying on the floor, in front of a large golden box, C4 around it an annoying blinking lights.

There were also those vials, again, and there were more of them, there were still the two he'd made luminesce.

"Soo…" Harry said massaging his temples, a headache not so bad as his time back in the day of no occlumency and dreams from the big bad Voldemort. But still, it was a headache.

It jumped back up to an intense headache when he saw A) how many people were around the table and B)…well actually B was down to the arguing going on.

He sighed and sat down next to Jack.

"What problems do we have?"

"What'd you remember?"

"Being knocked out, I think it's habit forming."

"Ba'al did it. Pass me those scissors, I wish Carter was here, she's so much less likely to let me blow us all up."

Harry leaned in, Jack was mucking around with a bunch of wires attached to the C4 and the big golden box.

"I was facing Ba'al…are you sure that's the right cable?"

"I'm _just trying_ to find out how much time we've got, the C4 has all been bound together, there's…" Jack looked around them.

Harry took it as said 'there's no way to disarm it', without a lot of problems, the explosive kind.

"I was facing Ba'al, something else hit me."

"Ba'al, another one."

"Never a quiet moment with you Jack." Harry pushed himself up, nearly falling into the various people crowding around the vials that he'd somehow managed to block out while he chatted to Jack.

"I wouldn't do that." He said off handed to a man who was aiming his wand at the vials."

"Why's that mister?"

"Sympathetic reactive glass, unless it's a neutral or negative sympathetic energy that hits it it'll probably crack, or shatter, showering us with the stuff inside."

"And you have an idea about what's inside?"

"He will lead outwards out through the deep," A deep gravely voice of a woman started, Harry and a few others turned around to look at her. She has big glases the size of small plates, and no hair. "…dark wastes of the water, walking the path trodden by twelve hands…" Then she coughed and a man handed her a hip flask.

"I'm sorry, Mildred does get like this sometimes, fanciful fantasies, raised by a coven of seers."

"Right…" Harry said looking around everyone looked back at him, he wiped a bead of sweat off his forehead that he didn't realise was there, not that he took the time everyone looked a bit…less than fresh.

"The bomb isn't your only problem, air and water are also present dangers." Some how Luna had managed to creep up on him and whisper a word of warning into his ear, Harry could practically feel her hot breath on his ear, it was more than a little creepy.

"Right…Jack. How's it going?"

"Nearly done."

"Oh…goody." Harry said as he patted down his pockets and removed a pouch of powder and leaned over the vials.

"How do you know that that will not trigger our destructions?" Asked one of the people standing around them.

Harry shrugged. "Our adversary has absorbed a lot of information quite quickly, though probably specifically to his task, this is a bit more obscure, both in source and method."

Harry watched as the powder fell onto the vials, it shifted in colour as landed. Harry removed a second pouch with another powder and frowned as the second set of colours shifted through the spectrum.

Harry knew what it would do and didn't quite want to think about how getting everyone out, so he was glad that his attention was drawn by a group of people drawing symbols on the door.

"Worked out what's behind it yet?"

"What do you know, mortal?"

"Those" He motioned along the door. "Are viewing symbols, the next ones you should be about to drawn in will allow a vision together with the magics behind it to become viewable for a short time."

The man, if he was a man, and Harry highly doubted that he was inclined his head.

"Indeed. What have you discerned?"

Harry paused for a moment, but decided of everyone these whoever they were, were more calm than the others, especially the centaur who kept looking at Jack, which was weird to say the least, he couldn't tell what the look said, probably pissed off.

"If the bombs go off, then we'll drown, but judging by the quality of the air we're going to suffocate first." The man who wasn't didn't seem particularly worried by the first two. "But when we suffocate, the vials will probably crack and then, well we're screwed."

"How so?"

"Yeah how so Harry?" Jack asked rubbing his hands on the coat Luna had given him. "What's in the vials?"

"Something that will strip the…" Harry trailed off searching for the correct word. "The…sorcery energy…and the life force, the intrinsic energy that binds us out. Then if I'm right the water and remained charms will filter it and Ba'al will skim it off the canals of Venice, like fat from a soup."

"Wonderful imagery there Harry."

"Indeed, that may not be necessary…" The man, who probably wasn't turned away.

"What's he doing?" Jack said in something that wasn't a whisper but might have pretended to be at some point.

"Concentrate on the symbols and watch."

Jack squinted at the scrawls on the door, and then as though they were tuning a TV for bad reception, he'd done that enough when he'd been fishing…speaking of…a section of the door had become clear, sorta. It revealed a dark light, a blue tinged light of water and some sea life of a sort.

"Exactly what is holding back that?"

"Other than the door?" Harry asked.

"Yeah other than that _wooden_ old__door."

Harry drew in a deep breath as he prepared to answer Jack and then frowned to himself taking a shallower breath again and looked around the room.

One of the basics of operating on board a space ship was knowing about oxygen, in an emergency when the atmosphere is breached you really had to know about it.

Vacuum wasn't the only thing to worry about, no oxygen going into an atmosphere and nothing coming in would kill you just as well as lengthy exposure to vacuum.

Right now they were in the early stages of running out of air, the sweat he could feel was indicative of that.

"Harry? Potter? You alive?"

"Yes but pretty, unless we don't figure this out we probably won't be." Harry immediately regretted saying that, it spread through the large crowd quickly. Thankfully there wasn't mass panic for the doors, he was standing in front of them, but the attempts to smash their way out increased around the room, to no avail.

"Ah…crap." Harry said to himself.

"Eh." Jack clapped a hand on Harry's shoulder. "I've done that before." Jack said with a reassuring smile and then shouted. "Hey, people listen up!"

Surprisingly the all stopped and stared at Harry and himself.

Harry raised an eyebrow, mildly surprised that that worked.

"It's okay everyone, we're going to get out of this alive."

"Really…how…who are you…?" And various other questions spun out across the crowd.

"Yes." Harry said, everyone continued to stare at him, like rabbits in the headlights so he added a "definitely." They continued to look at him, Jack nudged him, he got the feeling he was going to be shot, motivating the DA hadn't been this hard…of course when they did follow him…eh… "Who knows anything about ritual based transmigration with a parallel shift along the X axis and a vertical transference?"

"Is this really going to work?" Jack asked surveying what looked like a series of pentagrams, which he was assured _weren't_ pentagrams rather they were symbols of power…or something.

"Unless you can build CO2 scrubber enough for all these people, defuse the bomb."

Jack interjected. "Already tried remember." Harry nodded, after _that_ attempt after hid revelation of his 'plan' such as it was Jack had had another go at defusing part of the bomb. They now had an unspecified amount of time, though Jack estimated about half an hour considering how much time had passed since he'd _accidentally _shorted the timer out.

"Can't you build a scrubber?"

"I haven't got enough to be worring about?" Harry said as he stirred the mix of alcohols and sorcery activators from his and Jack's pockets into a brew which he hoped would provide enough of a catalyst to spin out the ritual.

At Night Wolf a 2 or so years ago he'd passed the theory and the practical on ritual transmigration.

But even so, the second refresher and test course he'd done hadn't really put him under these specific pressures, running out of breathable air, with the water of Venice above you, and needing the punch through the various methods stopping him and everyone else from escaping.

If it didn't work the method he was using would burn up the remaining oxygen and leave them choking down smoke and fumes, so if he screwed it up there wouldn't be much to worry about for long.

--/

Jack shifted uncomfortably in the circle and looked to his left where Harry was standing and then to his right where Lovegood was sitting, seemingly satisfied.

"Right, everyone sure about what we're doing?" Harry said to the various groups. There was muttered ascension. "Remember the activators need to scattered after the liquid, I'll count us in, if we stuff this up we're all dead. Good luck." Jack was hoped Harry was more confident than he sounded, maybe it was the distinct lack of air that was starting to become oppressive in this place.

Why couldn't these people have held their party somewhere nice and open, on a rooftop or on a boat or something, why in all sanity did it have to be under the water, with just wacky magic stuff holding back certain death.

"Because death is as much of life as living is, Colonel O'Neill." Jack really wished Lovegood would stop doing that, maybe he was mumbling to himself, maybe that was more sane than thinking to himself, maybe not.

"In three, two, one, Begin!"

The atmosphere in the room changed as soon as the chanting began, Jack could feel it rumbling through him. He hadn't been designated a chanting 'role', so he was just watching and 'concentrating on the interconnectiveness of the symbols and sequences of where they were going'. He didn't want to know what it was all about, but supposedly they were going to 'jump the rails and subtly avoid all Ba'al's force fields or whatever it was.' By taking a short step sideways, a few steps up and then they'd appear in a location sympathetic to their cause, the Giardini Pubblici, public gardens, Lovegood's idea.

He didn't trust Lovegood, no matter what Harry said, despite her being his friend and all. Jack got the sense that maybe _he_ didn't trust her, or maybe it was just her habbit of being either very good at predicting actions or hyper-intelligent. Not like Carter though, more like the Asgard crossed with the Tok'ra, good at keeping back stuff, to stab you in the back with later.

Jack watched as Harry poured his concoction, it flowed along the channels of the symbols that he'd gouged into the old floor boards and then took his hand, Lovegood took his other hand.

_Supposedly_ hand holding was all part of it, and nothing to do with camp fire singalongs, though Lovegood had questioned him on that element, the last real camp fire he'd been around when he wasn't in _immediate_ danger had been 40 years ago in another universe.

He hadn't told _her _that though.

Jack watched as the alcohol mixture flowed into the channels and then as the chanting reached a highpoint it ignited, then almost immediately after the ignitoin several people started chucking handfuls of dust onto the flames, they crackled loudly, it was only as the crackling overtook the chanting that he realised how tight his lungs were feeling.

Then his vision started to flare, Jack thought for a moment he was passing out.

Then, as though…magic…he was breathing the cool night air, there were stars above them and he could smell the sea.

"It's alright, we survived." Whispered a female voice beside him.

Jack blinked several times and looked around him, there were other pockets of people and horse-people and other people-people standing up from their sitting positions looking around.

In a very short time there was just himself Harry and the Lovegood woman left alone in the dark.

"My lodgings are available to you Harry should you need them in your quest. Good night."

"Night." Jack blinked again and wondered if he could get a beer as she smiled and disappeared with an almost silent 'pop'.

"Well, what now?"

"Now we need to re-evaluate what we need to do."

"What does that involve?"

"A room, some food and maybe a drink, just not in that order."

"Your friend…"

"No, not with Luna. Come on." Harry took his arm and they disappeared.

"Can you _not_ do that? Or at least give me some warning first."

"Sorry." He smiled.

Jack looked around they were in an alleyway. And shrugged to himself, hopefully soon a bite to eat that wasn't in danger of him being poisoned, a drink and whatever Harry wanted a room for.

_An hour or so later…_

"You want to poke around in my head?"

"That pretty much sums it up." Harry said leaning back on the chaise longue in the room he'd got for them.

"Why can't you just…" Jack waved his hands around.

"Wave my hands and make it all disappear and turn into bunnies?"

"Yes!"

"You were the last to see Ba'al."

"The second one." Jack added.

"And the first."

"After you shot and stabbed him, _I've _been wanting to do that for ages. You still haven't given me a good reason."

"Because I'm curious Jack and short of wondering the canals and passages of Venice until we happen upon a vital clue we need a leg up."

"Does that mean you have some small clues?"

Harry was thrown for a moment by the question.

"I'm sorry?" He asked as he removed his wand, stuffing it in a front pocket.

"You said 'vital clue', so you've got some minor ones you're hiding."

"Maybe."

"Fine, whatever." Jack made a grand gesture with his hands.

"Good, now just relax…"

"How's it going to…"

Harry found himself standing on a ramp looking up at a huge stone ring, there was concrete around him, obviously some sort of bunker, the ring had shimmering silvery-blue water, standing up in it.

"Well this is different."

"Eh not for me, been here done this, not the first time I've had my mind read ya know." Jack said walking up behind Harry, his boots making an echoing thunking noise on the gangway. He walked over and flicked the silvery blue liquid.

"Care to take a dive?" Jack asked with a smile and nodded toward the standing puddle.

"Right…" Harry said to himself and followed Jack through it, then after a weird shivering feeling he was back in the room they'd just recently escaped from.

Harry watched from Jack's perspective as he attacked Ba'al.

"This is sweet."

"You mean you've never looked at it from this point of view?"

"Nah, it's never as good the second time round." Harry just nodded at that comment.

"Okay so, what did Ba'al 2 hit me with?" Harry said as he watched Ba'al 2 hold up his hand and the energy wave that followed.

"Hand device, snakehead's use em for their shielding and mental trickery."

"And slamming me across rooms." Harry noted as the image of him crossed the room and went blurry, obviously outside Jack, original Jack's field of immediate vision.

Jack smiled at him. "Consider it joining a club."

"You've been thrown across the room?"

"Pyramid, spaceship, room, dungeon, palace, there aren't many places I haven't been."

"Right…your doctor on base must be forever patching your head up."

"Or sticking needles in my ass." Harry looked at him.

"Over sharing?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah."

Harry watched as Jack carried his witty banter with Ba'al 2 and Ba'al 1 was carried away, as people around the room tried to follow Ba'al minions fired blasts at them keeping them back. The doors closed and a red glow went around them.

"So?" Harry blinked, he and Jack were back standing in front of the stone ring.

"Hmm, jump cut, how'd you do that?"

"My memory isn't it?"

Harry nodded, he knew that the UNIT psi division did things like this, by General O'Neill seemed to have an odd familiarity with the whole person in your head thing.

Admittedly Harry wasn't exactly inexperienced with such events, but in the past it had always been a bit more removed, or there was a recognised sense of someone trying to get in. Jack treated with an all together more casual acceptance.

"I think we need to go through that again, there's something in the touching."

"The touching?" Jack asked as they walked through the stone ring again.

"Let's just watch again."

Ba'al 2 came in, chatted to Jack, and _didn't_ help the first one up, instead he just watched keeping a good distance as Ba'al 1 was dragged out, even as he walked out he kept his distance from the blood.

Harry groaned to himself as he began to get an inkling of what was going on as he found himself back in front of the stone ring.

"Let's go again, I want to check if I'm right."

"And if you are…ah re-run central." Jack said looking around as they found themselves in the room again.

"Pay attention, look at Ba'al 2."

"Aren't I already paying attention, this is my memory we're in."

"You can still pay attention."

"To what?"

"Around his neck…" Harry pointed and walked over up close, there was a chain around Ba'al 2's neck. He wanted to just push aside the coat Ba'al 2 was wearing to gain a better look, but obviously couldn't.

"Keep watching, I need to see the end of the chain." Harry said as he walked with Ba'al 2 as he approached the door.

"There, he turns around to look around the room and flash his eyes." Jack pointed.

Harry kept in close and as Ba'al spun around he saw it, and wanted to bash his head against a wall.

Then he found himself back in front of the stone ring.

"What is that?" Harry pointed up at the ring.

"The stargate." Jack said without a thought.

"Oh…so that's what it looks like." Harry said offhandedly.

"So, what's the big problem."

"Time travel."

"Oh, hell," Jack said and then added. "Crap."

"Yeah. That's about it. Time to leave I think we've seen enough repeats for one day." Harry said and snapped his fingers.

Jack blinked and looked around, they were back in the room.

Well, really they'd never left.

Hell of a lot less of a headache than the last guys to stick hands in heads.

He still had a mild headache, but that could have been from the last couple of hours of mind bending wackiness.

"So, when do I get to see in your head?"

Harry turned around from where he was standing looking out the window, he raised an eyebrow at Jack.

"Why do you want to look into my mind?" Jack shrugged. "Only megalomaniacs have had a look…and a manipulative bastard, and a servant of a megalomaniac…and maybe a delusion have had a look inside."

"Just curious, you're a bit secretive."

"I'll take that as a compliment rather than an accusation that I'm paranoid Jack."

"Well what next, aside from the obvious?" Jack asked as he stretched out on the sofa.

Harry by way of reply pulled out his radio and squeezed the send button. "Raven to _HIllingar_, over." What he got rather than a reply was static, dead air.

"_Hillingar_ this is Raven respond." He listened again and rechecked it.

"Jamming?"

"This isn't conventional radio…very odd."

"Can't you know…" Jack motioned one handed waving motion.

"Not without knowing vaguely where they are, I'd have to fly around." Harry answered, he could of course just go to Night Wolf Command without too much problems, but he had a feeling he shouldn't, just a vague feeling.

"I think…I think a late meal is in order Jack, I need to go out and procure some things." Harry said as he pushed open the window.

"What about me?"

"Order something for us both through room service, tell them to leave it outside the room, shoot anyone who comes through the door, I'll return soon." Then he dived out the window.

Jack contemplated rushing over to the window, but knew now, that there wouldn't be anything other than a black bird in gliding above the canal.

Harry returned about an hour later, reappearing in the corner of the room.

A trolley with a vast array of foods was in the middle of the room, Jack was watching TV what looked like a cartoon.

"Peek a boo." He said putting the box down on a table in the corner of the large room they'd got.

"Got ya sandwiches, there's some pasta there too, cold now probably."

"Yeah…thanks."

"What'd buy?"

"Stuff to hopefully make a magical inter-relational device."

"A what?"

Jack looked at the…whatever it was that Harry had next to the map of Venice.

It looked like 24 hour glasses, that had been stuck to some rulers and then welded some watches to, it also smelled really badly.

There was also a cable that looked like it had been ripped off some power cables attached that was dangling out the window, it was also sparking quite a bit.

"Is it safe?"

"I very much doubt it. You should be thankful that I went through all this, not a great amount of people working for UNIT have time travelled. A lot of people know the theory and how to do it, but it requires someone who's been in contact with a time field to do the final activations on this time of locationing device."

Jack blinked, not as bad as Carter's rambling but still confusing. "Okay."

Harry leaned down and picked up a heavy rubber glove.

"What's that for?"

"Insulation, I don't want to be thrown against a wall twice in one day while trying to find the snakehead" Harry frowned, Jack grinned. "Ba'al, I meant Ba'al."

"Snakehead, Ba'al what's the difference."

"I've been spending too much time around you is the problem Jack."

Harry slowly moved the contraption over the map, watching the various bits an pieces of it for movement, in theory the sand and the watches would increase or decrease their indicated passing of time based on the graphical representation on the paper, especially since he'd imbued it with various elements of Venice while he'd been out, which would hopefully tie it to the actual world and not just the world of paper.

Harry initially frowned, the sand in the various hour glasses were all falling at different rates, right across the map, indicating temporal travel all throughout the city.

He persevered though, there had to be some causal link between all the movements.

Harry barely turned as Jack moved away from him and he heard the TV turn back on softer now.

Harry grabbed a pencil with his free hand and begun marking all the high levels where the hour glasses increased their speed drastically.

Three hours later Harry turned the hour glasses upside down and cut the power to the frankly lethal device and looked at the map.

Ba'al must've been using multiple time turners to be have this affect, or there were a lot of time travellers in Venice. Both were probably true.

But he'd narrowed it down, there were around about 5 areas where there was a higher than others temporal affect around.

Harry blinked and looked out the window again, light was starting to filter through, morning was rising.

Walking over to the trolled of food he found a mostly full coffee pot, conjuring a fireball under it he allowed it to heat up.

"Jack, Jack!"

"What…?"

"Drink some coffee." Harry poured them both a cup, and winced, he really didn't like the stuff.

"So whadya got?" Jack was looking at the map. "Noughts and crosses?"

"A start. Five places."

"You think we should split up."

Harry almost laughed.

"Ya think? We're in a city crawling with a time travelling alien from your universe who's tried to kill us _and _you want us to split up."

"Yeah." Jack nodded.

"Not on my life, we're not splitting up."

After the third location was a bust Jack said with much smugness. "Told ya we should have split up."

"Then I would probably be picking your head off a pike." Harry said consulting his map again as they turned a corner. "That way." Harry motioned. As he followed Jack and nearly walked into him as he was folding the map into his pocket.

Jack was looking at a red double-decker bus that was parked on a bridge, the problem was the alleyway they'd come out of and the one they were walking into were only slightly higher than a regular person.

"That's different." Jack commented.

Harry felt a headache coming on and looked at the top of the bus.

"Oh why…"

"Why indeed Luvvy." An old woman walked out the back of the bus around to them.

"Hi, we were just passing." Jack started as he eyed the old woman, she had a cigarette in one hand and what looked like a gin and tonic in the other.

"Any reason why _you're_ here?" Harry asked pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Don't you give me that, I'm no trouble at all, anyway…_Do _you know me?"

"Iris Wildthyme, you worked for UNIT for a time."

"Ooo…so you're UNIT?" She put the cigarette in her mouth and made a show of patting down Harry's chest, stopping just short of his waistline.

"They certainly make them out of good stuff."

"Uh…"

"Don't mind me luvvy, _you_ shouldn't be here." She said addressing Jack.

"I've been getting that feeling a lot."

"Iris Wildthyme." Harry started, Wildthyme's assistance during the late 80s when the Doctor had disappeared had been sporadic at best, but UNIT-UK had had some assistance from her, she was supposedly a little less…self righteous than the Doctor, Harry had never actually met her, but had been curious. Unlike the Doctor she didn't tend to leave behind mass casualty counts.

"Transtemporal adventuress extraordinaire." Jack looked over at Harry.

"Is she for real?"

"Me, real? I'm as real as you are luvvy." She said seemingly slightly offended.

"Yes…she's real, this would be her ship."

"It's a bus." Jack looked at Harry, Harry's shoulders slumped.

"Yeah, it's complicated, if you see a police box anywhere run," Harry commented and then added "or shoot the guy near it."

"Now what do you have here then?" Harry looked, Iris had his map. "You're tracing the bloke who's been doing a lot of time travelling in the area, well one of them."

"Something like that." Jack said eyeing the bus and the old woman.

"He is a careful one. Your best bet is this property raven deary." Harry took the map and noted the area Iris had pointed at.

"Any particular reason?" He asked curiously.

"I'm an expert in these things" She smiled and then looked at him. "Timing may be everything." She finished seriously.

"Alrighty, thank you Iris."

"Tell the Brigadier hello from me when you next see him." She said as she walked back over to the entrance of the bus.

"Will do." Harry said as he watched her walk into the cabin.

"Shouldn't we move?"

"Why there's no room to drive it out." Harry said watching the cabin, Wildthyme waved at them.

Then she started the engine and with a wheeze groaning noise the wind around them whipped up and the red number 22 to Putney Common double decker bus disappeared.

Jack stared at the empty space and then turned back to Harry. "What the hell was that?"

"Less of a nuisance than another time traveller UNIT has had some dealings with. Her assistance doesn't usually come with a high price tag as the other."

Jack just took that information on board.

"So do we follow her directions."

"Yes, she would be some what of an expert on temporal matters."

"Because she's an adventuress?" Harry nodded.

--/

"This is it?" Harry looked up at the building in question.

"Seems so." It didn't look like anything overtly special, not like the other properties, though here there were several charms in place around the building, Harry could see Jack was a bit jittery.

"Are you sure, that woman could be wrong, it could be the other property." Scratch that, a _lot_ of charms.

Harry grabbed a hold of his arm.

"Come on, when we get inside it shouldn't be bad.

As Harry dragged him he could feel the itching under his skin get worse, it was like scarabs eating him as he approaching the threshold of the doorway. Harry kicked it in, and then they were standing inside a mildewed entrance hall.

"Ok that was nasty."

"Yeah, bit of a let down." Harry said looking around and un-holstered his S/K-2. "Set your weapon to kill."

Jack did as Harry ordered.

"What if we kill the wrong one?"

"What'd mean?" Harry asked as he clamped a torch to the underside of his weapon.

"I've seen time travel movies, won't it screw with time if we kill the wrong one that goes on to do something?"

"This is why UNIT doesn't actively pursue time travel." He said to himself. "Short answer is maybe, but time has a habit of working crap like that out."

They turned another corner.

"Upstairs?" Jack said as they finished checking out the ground floor.

"Yeah there's no lift so the stairs it is." Jack nodded, he hadn't seen any indication of hidden rings when they'd been walking around, though by their definition hidden rings were…hidden.

"Can you smell that?" Harry whispered as they neared the top of the stair case, all Jack could smell was mildew, but now that he took time to sniff the air there was something, very acidic with hints of…burning stuff.

"Yeah, over there."

There turned out to be a room, with several cauldrons on the boil.

"Witches den."

"Intruders!" Shouted someone, a green flash later and he slumped to the ground.

"What're they brewing up?"

Harry shrugged as he went around extinguishing all the fires over the potions and hoped nothing would explode due to lack of heat.

"Come on, let's find the bastard."

They'd got through three more floors several bodies and two near misses later before they reached the top of the final staircase.

Up here there was no smell of mildew, just dishes of fire leading a shimmering quality to the whole floor.

"Decor is interesting." Harry commented as they walked around the floor.

"Typical snakehead styling, fire, gold, metal."

"Bit over the top for my tastes. Front door?" Harry asked nodded down the corridor towards a set of double doors, there were two tall muscly guys who reminded Harry in build of Teal'c.

"Yeah. In three?"

Harry nodded. Two…One… They both stepped around from the alcove they were hiding in and fired.

Inside Ba'al was standing by the window, looking out to sea. He turned and found several of his followers, followers he'd carefully implanted 'elements' within to keep them permanently loyal far more than simple Nishta, dead on the ground and O'Neill and the other man standing there.

"Ah O'Neill, you have found my lair."

"Okay, camper than a row of tents." Harry said looking around, the guy even had a throne, how these people had managed to become 'System Lords' he didn't know…then again the Doctor was from a race who called themselves 'Time Lords'.

"You found my servants and followed them?" He asked curiously.

"Nup, you've been using the time turners, Jack was wrong about you being a clone."

"A very, interesting piece of technology." He chuckled. "Magic." He took two out of his pocket. "I could just as easily escape with these two." He smiled back at both of them. Harry made a motion with his hand, they slipped out of Ba'al's hand and rumbled to the floor.

Ba'al looked back at him. "A magic user as well as a soldier, how interesting." Then he put up his hands.

"I surrender." He said looking at Jack.

"Not my universe Ba'al buddy. I don't think they want a Ba'al in their cells."

"No, then as you humans like to say, if I'm going down I'm taking you all with me." He grinned and touched a device on his hand. Harry at the same moment threw his knife and fired multiple times. The knife hit home, which surprised Harry slightly, the shots also more or less hit home…too late however as the ground rumbled and Harry and Jack rushed to the windows.

There was a wave approaching Venice, seemingly trailing along the entrances to the whole lagoon.

"Oh shit." Harry said looking away from the window, as he looked over at Jack an arrow hit the wall between them. While the floor was rumbling Jack grabbed the arrow, there was a note wrapped around it.

"What's it say?" Harry asked.

"'Flood barriers, Tempus Fugit' Weird." Jack showed Harry.

"Double crap, that's my hand writing, I'm going to need an aspirin when this is over." Harry rushed over and scooped up a time turner and grabbed Jack, they disappeared to the roof of the building.

The wave was still rushing along through the sea, any moment it would hit the entrances to the lagoon.

Harry put the chain over both of them and turned away from the view and twisted the time turner several times.

Day turned to night and back to day and then they were still standing on the roof.

"What just happened?"

"Time travel? You might feel a bit disorientated."

"Nah, done that before."

"What haven't you done?" Harry muttered.

"What'd you mean this is your handwriting?" Jack gestured the piece of parchment.

"It's my handwriting." Harry said simply and took Jack's arm, they disappeared again, reappearing in an alleyway.

"Can you not do that?"

"Sorry, but we were standing on top of Ba'al base."

"So why didn't we just drop in and kill him there and then?"

"Because where we are is about 24 hours or so, ago we're still wandering around, or probably about to arrive."

"Oh…so we could meet ourselves."

"The Brigadier would never let me hear the end of it if that happened."

"What?"

"Come on, I need a drink."

Jack downed the beer with a grin.

"I thought you said you'd time travelled."

"To the 60s, not recent stuff."

"Well we can't meet ourselves."

"Why not?"

"Because we'd remember it?" Harry said rubbing his temples, how Hermione managed to do this, for a year, though she didn't have to worry about a megalomaniac and Venice flooding.

Just getting through another year at Hogwarts, which in practise was more or less the same.

"So why did someone shoot an arrow at us?"

"Well I, or you probably did it."

Jack thought for a second. "Okay. But…" He trailed off thinking. "But…didn't the note tell us to travel here?"

"Maybe."

"And you send it in the past."

"Probably." Harry answered.

"And that note made us time travel."

"Uh huh."

"So where did the original note come from?" Jack slammed the bottle down on the table.

"Well…" He started. "That's…well…I sent the letter, I mean I will send it, so I receive it."

"Yeah."

"Well…the thing we need to make sure of is." He grabbed it out of Jack's pocket and lit it on fire.

"Hey what'd you do that for?" Jack asked as Harry let the ashes blow into the wind.

"Just in case we try and send that letter to our future selves."

"So?"

"So then the letter doesn't come from anywhere."

"I'm getting a headache."

"You're getting a headache, it's me who sent the letter."

"Four words."

"Yep."

"Are you trying to make it hard for us?"

"Why are you blaming me?"

"You sent the letter!" Jack argued, they were attracting some attention.

"A letter I haven't sent yet."

"Have you seen Back to the Future?" Jack asked suddenly.

"We haven't gone back far enough for you to be seduced by any family members."

Jack blinked, Harry threw down some money, and walked out of the bar.

"Where are we going?"

"To find out the exact time and…" Harry grabbed Jack's shirt and pulled him back against the wall as two figures walked past them.

"_Are you sure you know where you're going?_" Whined the first.

"_Yes, totally sure. Come on."_

A minute or two after they passed Jack let out a breath.

"Okay that was weird."

"Yeah." Harry pulled out his radio.

"What are you doing?"

"Checking something" He switched the radio on and changed frequencies. "This is Raven to Hillingar, send response on alternate frequency."

There was a pause followed by a set of coordinates.

"Come on." Harry grabbed Jack.

"I need to see the Captain." Harry said as they arrived.

"You and Colonel O'Neill have time travelled?"

"Yes, I need access to know about the barriers around Venice, UNIT's hand in it."

"I'll get my communications officer to assist you. Should he contact Night Wolf?"

Harry sighed.

"Yes, I guess. Captain, don't answer any calls you get from me…contemporary me I mean."

A few moments later the phone on the meeting room table rang.

"Hello…yes General. Yes…yes I did. No, he's sorted. I mean he will be." Harry nodded to the phone. "Yes sir…well sir, he set off a device it created a tidal wave…yes sir…and I got a message from myself…yes sir, I know sir…'Flood Barriers, Tempus Fugit' in my hand writing…." Harry waited as General Lethbridge-Stewart paused to check something. "Yes sir, I thought of that, but…yes sir I know…right yes…" Harry replaced the phone on the table.

"That sounded like one of my conversations with when I really was a Colonel."

"Hmmm…" There was a knock on the door and the coms officer came in with a laptop and informed them of the information sent to the ship from Night Wolf.

Several hours later, and a brief rest break Harry and Jack were standing inside one of the main control rooms to the Venice Flood Barriers.

"This can't work." Jack said looking around. They'd already visited two of the other entrances to the lagoon to set up equipment mainly to boost the power, but this was the main one to reinforce all the others.

"Why such a doubting Thomas."

"Couldn't we have had some help?"

"As far as we knew, they weren't there, plus orders are orders, we shouldn't be involving anyone other than those that were in the city at the time."

"But…" Jack trailed off an gave up, he checked the backpack and cases they'd brought with them, which in addition to the equipment contained a crossbow and piece of parchment that Harry had written out prior to leaving the ship.

"This is crazy you know, according to your own information this thing isn't meant to be finished for another four years."

"That's why we're pulling all the breakers and pouring the concoction into all the sorcery elements."

"Then one of your ship beams all the technology out of the way and the UN blames it on aliens or something."

"Or something." Harry mumbled from under a console. They were setting it all for remote activation, that part of the systems was finished and had been in the final testing stages until they'd set off a bio-hazard alert emptying these control rooms.

"You can hook in the additional power now." Harry said pushing himself out from underneath the console and looked over to where Jack was hooking in the additional power packs they'd got from the _Hillingar_.

"Ready." Jack said as he flicked the switches, after the first one it had become relatively easy. Especially since they didn't have any assistance.

Harry restarted all the systems and watched as all the levels came in showing the new higher rate of flow and output across all the systems.

"Raven to _Hilingar_. All set. Moving the secondary position."

Harry didn't wait for a response as they'd agreed no communication would be sent to them.

"Ready?" Harry asked as Jack closed the case and checked over the crossbow.

"Ready, got the arrow?" Jack asked, Harry held it up already pre-rolled was the letter on the arrow.

Harry checked his reset watch.

"Almost time."

"Then lets go make history." He said with a wild grin offering Harry his arm.

They disappeared, reappearing around a corner from the corridor they'd originally been in, inside Ba'al's lair.

"I wish we could just rush in there and bump off the bastard." Jack whispered.

"Then we wouldn't time travel and then there'd be two of us, plus a bit problem with the timeline."

"Yeah I know, I'll ask Carter about it when this is all over."

"Pretty soon to be." Harry nodded as the two guards flashed green and they watched themselves kick the doors in.

"Come on." Harry whispered.

They watched around the corner as the floor rumbled and their past selves rushed to the window.

"You ready?" Harry asked as Jack took aim.

"Yeah…just…" Then he squeezed the trigger at the right moment the arrow buried itself in the wall and his past self took it off the arrow.

Harry took his arm and they disappeared.

They reappeared on the roof top of a building opposite Ba'al's.

"Look." Harry pointed as they, their past selves appeared on the roof top, and then as suddenly as they arrived they spun and shimmered and disappeared.

"There we go, that's us off back in time." Harry said with a smile. "Now we just need to see if we've saved Venice."

"And just to ask if we don't?" Jack asked squinting out to sea as the wave continued to approach.

Harry shrugged. "I guess we disobey orders, travel back in time again, and adjust whatever Ba'al used so it doesn't go off."

"Why didn't we do that?" Jack asked.

"Because that would have buggered around with the timeline something chronic. Here we go." There was another rumbling and right along and around the entrances to the lagoon it seemed like the sea was reflected in the air and then frozen as a magical energy force field hybrid flared into life, overpowered and over stretched as the water slammed into it and washing backwards.

"That worked."

"It's still got to hold up for another 15 minutes if the _Hillingar's_ projections are right.

It was an agonizing wait, but they didn't have to wait the full 15, at 13 and a half the barrier that they could see flickered and cut out.

Allowing some but not a huge amount flood towards the city.

"That's not good." Jack commented as he looked at his watch.

"No, but better than letting it all in, now the UN will probably come in to help and the politicians will go into over drive."

"Better than nothing, lets go for a drink."

Harry smiled. "Fine, a drink it is."

--/

_Okay this chapter went over time on a massive scale._

_Surprising as it may seem I actually had much of this chapter planned, as in I had specific scenes written down and how it would happen. Ie; the escape from the party, locating Ba'al, and the time travel aspect._

_But it all seemed to run well over time._

_If this chapter had been planned as an average TV show I think I would have gone over budget and running time to a feature film length._

_On a side note; Iris Wildthyme is from the Doctor Who novels, she's appeared once or twice in my previous stories and is a bit of a meta-fictional character, which I thought just fitted in that part of the chapter._

_Next chapter will definitely deal with what happened to Sam Carter, and Teal'c and Daniel, probably._

_Thanks for reading._


	14. Chapter 14

--

--

Disclaimer: All characters, names, settings etc belong to their respective copyright holders, only Night Wolf and a few other things are of my own creation (but inspired from many things under copyright, which aren't mine).

**Chapter 14**

Doctor Aderyn Pearce applied a local anaesthetic to the man's leg and carefully cut the shard of metal out of his leg, his vitals were still crashing due to the energy blast he'd taken in the torso, but the metal and its associated charms were just complicating matters.

"Get him on a compensator and IV, run the scanner over the major organs, it'll determine the elements of the energy. Run the results through the database, start with known Dalek ones, we might be lucky and they'll be consis…" She trailed off as the light alert system, an unobtrusive lighting system used throughout the medical labs and bays to denote certain alert statuses during battle, usually it was blue denoting a battle alert. It switched to an orange colour just as the whole ship's shaking and vibration that Aderyn Pearce had grown to ignore during battle picked up several notches as the enemy decided to pick up their attack on the ship, they also lost gravity.

Aderyn clicked her heels together, though unlike Dorothy, these only activated charms in built into her shoes and made her grip to the floor.

"Lock all systems down, belt the patients in." She said in a firm loud tone around her medical lab as everything went close to zero gravity.

The medical bays and labs were about three quarters of the way down the ship, close to the engine and power systems.

All UNIT vessels generated a gravity field that streatched outwards from the engines and encompassed most of the ship, areas which required gravity all of the time were closer to the stern of the ship so that in battle situation the gravity (and the power required for it) could be streatched back away from less needy systems.

The fact that _they_ were loosing gravity meant that power was being redirected to other systems that were in dire need of it.

_Then_ they arrived on gurneys, that stuck to the floor in the close to zero gravity.

The people they'd come to rescue.

"Shit. Initial readings?" She asked of the Doctor and nurse moving around them.

"Extreme doses of radiation we're still matching the exact frequencies, she's the worst, physical and mental torture, everyone else has one of the other." The doctor motioned around at their patients.

"Get them onto beds and, " She paused as the steady rumble changed direction and the ship's tone altered.

"Oh crap, activate restraints on all beds." That was when a rushed announcement went out throughout the ship.

"_Brace for impact!"_

Then a binary star which had been altered at its primal level to function as an inter-temporal gateway imploded in close proximity to four of the United Nations' Intelligence Taskforce space craft.

Doctor Aderyn Pearce grabbed a hold of the bed and activated all the restrains and braced herself against the wall.

She took the half second between the announcement and the explosive wave that hit the ship to be just slightly satisfied that she'd guessed it.

Though she'd been serving aboard the ship for about 5 years now, you got to recognise certain things, those things probably saved a few people who wouldn't have been tied down when the RSCS _Formidable _did a veritable dive nose forwards.

Then moments, maybe seconds afterward Pearce shook herself out of what might have been a momentary blackout as lights flickered though they stayed functioning.

She also became very aware of the of a flat tone and pushed herself probably too quickly up from her brace position and rushed over to the bed.

"She's flat lining. Get me the paddles." Pearce grabbed them out of the younger doctor's hands.

"What're you doing her heart's stopped."

"She's just been through Dalek induced mental torture we put more electricity through her body she's a vegetable. Number 8 stimulating salve directly over the heart cavity and 5cc of adrenalin. Stat." Pearce said as she moved to judge the intracranial swelling on the patient's head.

"That'll only work if it doesn't kill her with shock." Commented Doctor Graham Wycoff as he placed a paste on her patient's arm.

"Have you worked out what's killing them precisely?"

"Aside from Dalek torture?" He asked wirly and removed the now rubbery paste. "Here we go." He muttered as the needle was plunged into Samantha Carter's heart.

"Got a pulse. BP's low." Pearce swung the screen of diagnostics around. The patient's BP was too low, there she was bleeding worse than bad internally and now that her heart was pumping she would bleed out long before they fixed the radiation that was eating her insides, her brain while saved from being fried wasn't in good shape with the pressure building up and…she had more patients who _could_ be saved here and now.

"Bring in the cryo-stasis units. Freeze them all, intubate her before you put her in otherwise her lungs will collapse when we reheat them."

UNIT had access to two forms of stasis devices, long and short term, long term devices were hardly ever used, the minimum a subject was in a long term unit was a week.

Short term was just that, a maximum of 72 hours, the name 'cryo-stasis' was also slightly misleading, the cryogenics portions was actually specifically targeted slowing freezing and slowing charms paired with advanced reverse engineered alien stasis technology making them one of the most expensive items in the medical inventory. All the activating crystals, woods and other ancillary charm activators were carved and charmed from scratch, _some_ of the components could be reused, but for it was a costly, though often vital piece of equipment.

In cryo-stasis, all bodily functions were suspended, the mind also, though in some instances the mind slept as the body slowed to a stop…

"Hey Sam."

Samantha Carter blinked, one moment she was…the memory slipped away from her and now she was in, she looked around a white void.

"Sir?" She asked the man in front of her.

"Hell Carter, you call me sir here?"

"Oh…is this, am I…?" The man in front of her raised an eyebrow. "I'm dead aren't I?"

"Nah." She stared at the man.

"What do you last remember Colonel Carter?" Sam turned around, as she turned something glided past her, just out of sight as she faced the other taller man.

Sam shook her head and closed her eyes as she remembered the ebb and flow of pain before.

"Being knocked out."

"Been there a few times." Said the first man.

"So have I. We all have." This new man, in glasses appeared before her.

Sam turned around, looking all around her, she was sure she could _feel_ something.

"Here, take a card." This next man was in front of her, with long black wings hanging off his back, he was also shuffling a deck of cards in front of her and his eyes had a weird intensity.

Sam just nodded and took the card, it had a picture of a hat on it.

The green eyed man smiled at her.

"Shouldn't I be working out something, isn't that how _this_ is meant to work?" Sam asked the assembled people around her.

"You have had an experience like this before." The large man with a symbol on his forehead commented.

"Yes, I did. But that was different. _I know_ that I'm in a hospital…" Sam trailed off as a flash of memory bleached out the white void and she experience or recalled struggling for breath as she was wheeled down a corridor of a ship, everything shaking around her.

Then she was back in the white void.

"Crap!" She exclaimed to herself, nearly suffocating on her own lungs would be preferable to this.

"You alright Sam?"

"Yes, sir, fine." She said almost on automatic.

"Here let me take that." Sam found she was standing in front of a long table, behind it was the winged man with bright green eyes. He took the card out of her hand and placed it on the table and then grinned at her. "Hocus pocus." He said waving his wands over the table, there was a flash and a rabbit leapt out of the picture of a hat on the table.

"Cool!" Exclaimed the slightly greying man and picked up one of the rabbits as more started to jump out of the hat…the picture of a hat, on a steel table.

"Still having doubts?"

"No." Sam said as something passed across her peripheral vision.

"We should go home shouldn't we Sam?" The man in the glasses asked her.

"Yeah, we should." The greying man agreed.

"Indeed." Something passed closer, and there was that smell and it wasn't the rabbits which continued to jump out of the picture of the hat.

"Time to leave I think." The green eyed man said with a quick flourish grabbed the edges of the picture of the hat stretching it out to the size of the table and grabbed her hand, pulling her down the rabbit hole.

The landing knocked the wind out of her and she rolled into a standing position and looked around, the winged green eyed man was looking around their current location.

It smelt to Sam a bit like the woods outside Cheyenne Mountain, or it could have been many of the planets through the gate, of course this was all probably in her head.

"Why'd you do that?"

The green eye'd man kicked the dirt and rocky ground.

"Rougher on their motive units."

"On what…?" She heard the noise again, it wasn't much, maybe she misheard the whine of a car, or a gun.

"Let's keep moving." Said the man gesturing incline.

"You're not here." Sam said after they'd been walking for a few minutes, maybe it was a few seconds.

"I'm not?" He quirked an eyebrow.

"This is a result of concussion."

"It couldn't be some form of shared mental landscape?"

Sam thought about this, and it was possible, she'd certainly been through it before.

"Where you're all part of one massive computer system that's powering a city full of machines who fought the last battle over humanity and won."

"That's _The Matrix_." Sam said to the green eyed man.  
"Fair cop, I'll go quietly. What about a psychic experience."

"That's not possible."

"Is it, are you sure?"

Sam blinked as she recalled reading into UNIT's activities on Earth, their telepath and telekinetics and whatever else, it had been interesting, especially as none of them suffered any of the side affects that Jonas and Cassie did.

"Well?" The man asked as reality, or whatever this was snapped back into place.

"_You're _not telepathic."

"Do you know that or are you just assuming it because you don't know whether or not."

As Sam started to formulate an answer an energy bolt flew past them impacting on a tree beside them.

"Get down!" Screamed the ground, and two men covered in camouflage netting rose out of the ground firing into the forest. It was the lightly greying man and the tall man with the symbol on his forehead, they were both firing SAWs at something she couldn't see.

"Time to get moving I think." The man with deep green eyes said as he eyed the forest.

"But sir…"

"Go Carter! That's an order."

--/

Doctor Aderyn Pearce stripped off her umpteenth pair of gloves and walked over to the labs where doctor Graham Wycoff was sat hunched over the scanner and enhanced microscope humming to himself.

"What's the butcher's bill?" He asked not looking up.

"Two dead, three that might not make it. Plenty who'll need regrowth."

"What were our casualty projections for this?"

"None?" She asked in an optimistic sarcastic tone. That was one of the things she hated having to do, using data to guess how many people they _might_ loose. She sighed pulling up a chair, she'd been standing for far too long and her body despite the various stimulants was starting to feel the strain. "Three per ship. We've just had the remaining Thylacine pilots in for radiation treatment. Speaking of…"

"Yes. Our Dalek survivors. This is the culprit." He pushed himself away from the microscope blinking as he acclimatised to the low light in the lab.

The ship had main power back up, about 2 hours ago, main engines had come back 7 hours after that, thought they still couldn't make the jump to hyperspace or even create a hyperspace window, interference.

She looked at the screen, it looked like a virus.

"It's a virus?"

"Sort of. There's been some interesting findings coming from the Granger expedition. A Dalek saucer probably from the future or a future alternate."'

"That's the interesting thing?"

"Not really. They're finding indications that the Daleks mutated humans or humanoids to become Daleks."

Pearce didn't say anything, what the Daleks could do didn't surprise her, she'd seen more than her share of people who had felt the Dalek's hand, so to speak.

"According to the information they use a combination of drugs and radiation to fast mutate and then into a waiting shell."

"Mustn't have done their genetic pride much good."

"Dr Granger theorises that it was an emergency procedure, there weren't enough of them to fly their ship. But you've got me sidetracked. This 'virus' isn't just that, it's a radiological mutagenic virus."

"Designed to mutate them into Daleks?" Pearce asked as she turned to the computer ready to punch up a biohazard alert.

"Yes…and no. It looks like a much slower process, all of them have been through torture both physical and mental via a mind probe machine. But it hasn't worked, or they didn't get the answers they wanted."

"So?"

"The Dalek in charge is obviously a creative bastard. This will slowly take control and convert them slowly, even slower now they're away from the Dalek's ship and radiation probably filtered by their ship to produce the results."

"High doses of anti-radiation medication and treatment."

"There's something else."

"Why didn't I think there wasn't?" Pearce dragged a hand through her hair. Wycoff smiled.

"Because they're salt and pepper shaped bastards. It's got a mental component, I'm already calculating and comparing our set of rad meds to combat the radiation, the virus element is something native to the Daleks it's also running through our known database of their nasties. The mental part is more complicated. Did you check their EEG readings?"

Technically speaking all their readings came from advanced scanners, including those for gathering information about the brain, and while the information gathered was more detailed than any EEG the name like many things stuck.

"Preliminary check, there was some brain activity, it's common especially after prolonged exposure to a mind analysis system."

"Look at them now." He hit some keys and the large screen above them changed showing various fields of information. It indicated an active, almost stimulated mental landscape.

"Please say this is just normal dreaming."

"As if our jobs were ever that easy."

"Why can't people just have normal regular dreams, instead we're pursued by nightmares, surreal and annoying as they are." Pearce sighed as she rambled to herself.

Wycoff smiled, Pearce hated it when he smiled in that knowing yet 'guess what' sort of manner.

"What?"

"The radiation treatment will have to wait until we get an exact fix on it. The mental component we need to address now." He paused Pearce thought it was probably for dramatic effect. She would have glared at him, but was enjoying the feeling of having her eyes closed and the dull hum of the ship that was currently more soothing than what she could tell was about to come. "I've got a mental construct that can be used to combat the mental element that will destroy most of it and push its remnants into a physical reality, but"

"Here it comes..." Pearce muttered to herself.

"Each of us will have to enter their mental landscape and deliver and make them understand the construct that will combat the virus."

Pearce wanted to whack her head against the desk, but what was coming would give her enough of a headache.

--/

"Can't you just wave your wand and get me in there?" She asked as she helped connect the various cables and lower down the various mental scanner and probes that would let her into Lt Col Samantha Carter's active consciousness.

"This?" He flicked the long wooden wand around his fingers with practised ease. "You know why, it's all very personal, I can do it for myself, but as an intermediary we get into complications. I'll be using the same system you're using, just in case. At least with this set up with we've got some bio-feedback buffers. Time to get you fully hooked up, ready?" He smiled at her, Pearce glared at him.

"What do you think, the last time we did this I had a migraine for a 3 days."

"Don't you already have a headache Aderyn?"

"Yes Graham, thanks for reminding me." She said pushing herself into the chair next to the stasis bed and began to stick the pads along her scalp as Graham Wycoff made final adjustments to other instruments pointing at her and Lt Col Carter.

She was just the first, Graham and others would be working on the other rescued crew, they'd all be entering their dreamscapes at roughly the same time, just in case there was some low level psi-communion that the viruses had, it was unlikely with the Daleks, but it was a possibility that they'd faced before.

--/

Just as she'd shut her eyes and reality had winked out, Dr Aderyn Pearce was standing in a forest.

"This is not going to end well." She said looking around herself and breathing a large breathful of imagined air.

It was always interesting to see the detail that a human consciousness went to when creating a mental landscape. She could taste the cold air, the smell of pine, the earthy scent of dirt below her books.

Then, inevitably she was shot at.

The thing was when working within someone else's psychic landscape there was a direct link between your representation within their psychic and mental landscape and your physical reality.

Aderyn Pearce threw herself across the slope and behind a tree as several energy blasts impacted around her. Gritting her teeth and rubbing the shoulder she landed against she peered around the tree and swore.

She could just about see the flashing lights of the Daleks as they moved up the mountain the four flashes of their favourite battle cry.

She turned back to face the mountain, which seemed to have risen several degrees in inclination since the last time she looked at it.

"Buggering hell." She said as she looked around for a method of climbing the molehill that had become a mountain in between looking at some Daleks. Something snorted next to her. It was a horse.

Pearce looked around, mental landscapes were malleable, but she had been hoping for an ATV, or something, or maybe an all purpose Dalek gun…She looked around her again, it failed to materialise, the horse however stayed where it was looking at her curiously.

"Fine, fine. At least you've got a saddle." She muttered and climbed up onto the horse and guided it up the mountain, as they climbed she could hear the cry of the Daleks get that little be louder and more determined.

--/

"Okay so why have you been having such a time about this whole universe?"

Sam blinked, one moment she was rushing through up a mountain the next she was riding a horse through a valley, the mountains in the distance were topped with snow, there were trees dotted every so often around lower hills.

"What just happened?"

"Jump cut, don't worry about it." The green eyed man grinned and winked to her.

Sam tried not to, it was easy to forget as she looked around at the landscape around her, it didn't look like anything planet she'd been to, recently at least, in fact it looked a bit like New Zealand, where she _hadn't_ been recently, maybe it was a film she, Daniel and Teal'c had seen recently.

"I'm sorry what?" She said as the horse made a noise at the other horse drawing her back to un-reality. "Why can't I, why are you asking me this?"

The green eyed man shrugged.

"Are we safe here?" Sam said as she closed her eyes for a moment enjoying the quiet despite the wind gently buffeting her.

"For the moment."

Sam could tell even though she wasn't looking at him that he was looking at her.

"I don't know why."

"Really." Now she could tell he was giving _her_ one of _her_ looks at _her._

"Anyway why should I talk to you, you're just part of my…"

"Subconscious?" The man asked again.

"Psychosis." She countered.

"What you do could be considered magical, wormholes across the galaxy, miracle drugs, snakes in the head."

"Science, not magic." Sam didn't know why she was arguing with, what was probably herself, or her own subconsciousness or psychosis or what.

"You have the power to throw energy, that's the same that these people do, yet you find it so hard to believe."

"You've travelled in time, met seen the future and the past. Been to literally hell. Your consciousness has had a game of pass the parcel and you know the telepathy exists. So why are you so reticent to accept this world?"

"Because. It's too easy." Sam said, quietly then her voice started to rise. "It's too easy for them, there are consequences, there has to be…"

--/

Dr Aderyn Pearce suddenly found herself on a plateau, with three men holding white rabbits watching her.

"Who are you?"

"What are you doing here?"

"Ooo…someone new."

Pearce looked between the three of them.

"Hello psychology in action." She said to herself, the men before her looked puzzled.

At least she wasn't encountering any complexes, or major psychological traits, problematic annoying ones that is.

"I'm looking for" She was cut off by the tall man with the symbol in his forehead.

"We know who you are looking for, how do we know you are not with _them_."

That's when said 'them' came up over the rise, to the horse's credit it didn't seem fazed.

Though upon reflection considering it wasn't a horse there wasn't much for it not to be fazed about.

Pearce swore to herself and grabbed at her side for where she _wanted _a weapon to be. To her surprise there actually was a weapon, or it could have been a piece of decorative art that her, or this environment had added because it thought she needed a bit of bended phallic art work.

She squeezed the handle and tried not to think about the connotations as it leapt up and blue energy was flung from it three times into one of the Daleks making it disappear.

"The might of the phallus." Pearce looked back to the three men, who were holding similar weapons. "I don't believe this." She looked around hoping for a reset button, or at least something to turn off the surreality, which wasn't even a word but it was what it felt like.

"Go, we'll cover you." Said the older man.

"Where?"

"The door, out to work." The man with glasses said pointing behind them.

Pearce stared, she was sure she hadn't seen a large blast door with 'Level 28' written on it that was crafted into the hillside before.

"Okay." She guided the horse, or maybe the horse guided itself towards the door, it slid open with a clunk and as she got into the darkness it shut leaving her in total darkness for a moment, then she was standing on a ramp and there was a ring full of water standing in front of her.

"Here I was thinking we wouldn't be going through the whole gamut of things." She said to the horse and wondered if Wycoff was getting as many ideas thrown at him, no knowing his luck it would be easy, a desert island with Daleks coming out of the water, or London and Daleks rolling across bridges chasing people in a deserted city, simple things slightly improbably things.

Instead she got guns that looked like phalluses…or maybe snakes and a giant hole…or a ring of water. She was glad she hadn't majored in psychology.

Then she was being walked into the puddle of standing water…

Then she was in the middle of a valley which looked a bit like New Zealand, in the distance she could make out two figures on horses.

"Let's get after them." She muttered to the horse and jerked backwards and grappled with the reins as the horse took off at an impossibly fast gallop.

--/

"Sacrifices?" The green eyed man asked as Carter's voice started to rise.

"Yes!" She exclaimed. "Their magic that sorcery is too simple, the method is, it doesn't make sense." As Sam was trying to compose her next sentence a woman on a horse came into view.

"Hi…" She smiled between them.

"Who are you?" The green eyed man and Carter asked at the same time.

"Captain P…" She was cut off.

"Shhh…." He said holding a finger to his lips.

"Okay." Aderyn Pearce said mainly to herself.

"You didn't answer, who are you?" Lt Col Samantha Carter repeated her question, Pearce eyed what looked like Captain Harry Potter from the RSCS _Hattah_.

"Forget about him, it. Who are you, how did you get here?"

"I'm a doctor, from the ship that rescued you…" Aderyn said and started to explain.

Sam nodded after a while, she didn't know how long the doctor had been explaining what had happened, but it made sense, in a way.

"So he really is part of my psychosis?"

"Probably part of your mind that embodies everything that you don't understand into a being. Or maybe the person he looks like's personality made a big impression on you." Names seemed to be an odd faux pas here, Aderyn had quickly realised, maybe it was a coping mechanism, or something to do with mental defence, there was a lot of power in a name.

Pearce rubbed the neck of the horse, trying to keep herself grounded in the here and now. It was too easy to be distracted by random thoughts here.

"Why am I riding a horse, with him?" Lt Col Carter was saying to herself.

"Possibly some unconscious need for this setting, Pearce risked a look backwards and saw them, they were some distance away, she started to wonder if they were always there or if they were just there because she'd looked backward for them.

"Paging Schrödinger."

"I'm sorry?"

"Nothing, just…you understand what you need to do?"

"Yes, I think so doctor…" Then the Lt Col seemed to have a look of intense concentration, and then their surroundings melted around them including Capt Potter who seemed to just wobble like a horizon.

Then they were standing on a road in the middle of no where.

_She _was still sitting on the horse, which looked very out of place, Lt Col Carter seemed much more in keeping with this world, sitting on a big motorbike.

"Very Mad Max of you Lt Col." Aderyn risked her rank, especially since Capt Potter, or a psychological facsimile wasn't around to give her odd looks.

"…ter-min…ate…" She could hear their battle cry now, even though they were barely visible, their voices carried on the wind.

"Your people are working on the outside?"

"Something like that, but we have to heal the mind and the body."

"Right…" She looked up ad Pearce and smiled, that was when she noticed the large glass bottle on the bike, with a white rag in it. "Time to stop running." Carter said with conviction and kicked the bike into life.

"Do I follow her or stand and watch?" Pearce asked the horse, who seemed to decide for itself and took off at a fast gallop after Carter.

Then as she thought she was approaching Carter Pearce witnessed what could be described as psychological mushroom cloud and everything went white.

--/

Aderyn massaged her temples and then took another sip of the unpleasant concoction. Wishing for it to wash away the blinding migraine that was washing back and forth in her mind, the rest of her body was still tingling, which might just have been to do with the way she had slumped in the chair for the short time she'd been within Lt Col Carter's consciousness.

Wycoff walked into her office cradling his own mug of something unpleasant.

"How's it going Graham?"

"Proceeding as expected, the radiation should clear out completely."

"Leaving us to fix up the physical damage."

"What's the word from the bridge?" He said gesturing the computer screens behind her.

"Another 20 hours until we clear the interference field, then we should be able to jump back to Research Base One. So how was your trip down the rabbit hole?"

"Just as bad as yours Aderyn." He said it in a questioning statement. She shrugged.

"I've been through worse."

"Haven't we all."

--/

_This chapter took longer than usual, though I have more of a reason why this and previous chapters have taken a while longer._

_Non-linear story telling. Straight forward narratives are easy to write, ones that throw around concepts are harder, that's why the time travelling thing in Venice threw me off a bit. This chapter again, a bit conceptual, takes longer._

_But I like to write these things and if it were a straightforward narrative every week it'd be a bit boring and un-interesting._

_Just a note about the genesis of this chapter;_

_It was going to be much shorter (and therefore have room for other characters), Carter was going to be rescued, put in stasis and then, well she wouldn't have had much else._

_Then there was going to be this whole side line about some Daleks having escaped the explosion of their ship by transmatting onto the RSCS Formidable, and it would have been one of those claustrophobic creeping around their ship getting zapped and fighting off this last group of Daleks._

_The main problem I found with that idea was I'd knocked out the familial character of Sam Carter and even if she was awake was too injured to do anything and it wasn't her ship to do anything on. I did think about going ahead with it regardless but without Carter I'd have to introduce a whole bunch of new characters, and that would have been a bit much._

_So, that's why I cam to the two doctors and the dream state Carter's mind thing, I can have some fun with some (what would be flashbacks) and there's the whole SG1 team in this chapter, even if they're not here._

_I know I promised Teal'c this week. But…well next week, definitely now that I've tied up two out of four of the SG1 cast, there is only Teal'c and Daniel to cover._


	15. Chapter 15

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Disclaimer: All characters, names, settings etc belong to their respective copyright holders, only Night Wolf and a few other things are of my own creation (but inspired from many things under copyright, which aren't mine).

**Chapter 15**

Teal'c piled the kittling into a proper shape and removed a small focusing crystal from his pocket, intoning the words the human soldiers had taught him, concentrating as he did so, a small flame erupted from what dry leaves he could find, quickly he moved it to best take light of the kittling.

This was his fourth night on this planet, an extended training and survival mission with UNIT.

_Two weeks ago_

He had been on this planet that the Tau'ri or the human's had founded for two weeks teaching and learning with them. It did not have a name, but was known as Research Outpost 7.

O'Neill had said that the UNIT commanders had 'Jumped at the chance to see a Jaffa at work', the reality was not far from O'Neill's statement. The Tau'ri, Teal'c mentally corrected himself, the humans of UNIT, these humans had never encountered the Goa'uld and were not known as the Tau'ri of his universe. They were curious about his own experiences, the Goa'uld and the physical attack strategies built up over their many years fighting battles across planets and his own experiences.

It was not what he had expected, the Tau'ri in the SGC had been and were still curious about the techniques taught to him by Master Bra'tac, but whilst they truly appreciated his input and experience the Tau'ri or the 'Air Force' had their own methods and styles. Teal'c could appreciate that, methods and forms established by the Tau'ri over their history, a history that had been there longer than the Goa'uld,

These humans were not Tau'ri.

They had a different outlook and a different 'mode of thinking' as Daniel Jackson might say.

The Tau'ri on Earth had only been attacked by the Goa'uld a few times, in their history and really only since they began using the Stargate. These humans, were constantly bombarded with experience to attacks

The Goa'uld and the Tau'ri in his universe had…options available to them, the Tau'ri developed _Prometheus_ from technology they had encountered after travelling through the Stargate, making allies travelling through the Stargate.

The Goa'uld had maintained their empire through strategically and economically using the Stargate.

Ships were used in large battles, or to move massive forces, but they were costly in labour, minerals and time to construct even with the large amount of slaves and Jaffa, and the Stargate cost nothing to the Goa'uld.

"_What is the best weapon in your arsenal young Teal'c? Not the weapon you must to grasp for, nor that which you must unsheathe, it is you, your ability to think, to plan, to react, to choose when to strike, these are some of the most valuable weapons."_

This wisdom was taken to a different degree with these humans, they could disappear and reappear at a though or turn into animals like Captain Harry Potter.

He had just begun to discover how proficient these humans were in their methods of planning, reaction, preparation, attack, subterfuge.

Teal'c jumped backwards dodging the blade that narrowly missed his torose, his jump not much more than a midsize leap backward as the soldier beside him fired off blasts from his gun at the opposing force.

Then two blasts came from their right and left, striking him and the soldier beside him.

Teal'c sagged slightly as they were splashed with colour, a spell indicating a fatal hit.

"Nice try guys." Came an area of air which as Teal'c concentrated on rippled and he could just, if he _really_ thought and concentrated could see a difference between the area and the land on either side of it.

"Focus any harder Teal'c and you'll pop a migraine." Said the soldier beside him, Teal'c nodded, accepting the towel wiping the streams of sweat off his face as the teams that had been training together this day broke off for the mid-morning break, much like midday on Earth, it was when the heat of the sun became most intense.

This planet that the humans had settled an 'Outpost' was interesting. According to Col Carter many of the worlds in their own universe had been Terraformed probably by the Ancients, giving them relatively hospitable conditions with many of them appearing alike in terms of environment. The Goa'uld usually settled on worlds that had a relatively 'normal' environment, gravity and such like generally appeared to be quite similar.

This planet was not so. It a 'high gravity' planet, making him feel not as 'spry' as he was used to.

All of the human scientists who were also at the outpost studying elements of the planet wore treated clothing with the human's 'sorcery' to negate many of the gravity affects.

The soldiers he was here training with did not benefit from this during their training workouts.

Teal'c really felt the pressure at times, fighting against the planet to plan his methods of attack, and follow through with those attacks, much more so than he would have on a regular world.

The heat was relatively bearable, except at peak points during the day, when it became practically unbearable to be in the sun without protection.

_2 Days Later…_

Teal'c tensed, had Jack O'Neill been present he would have been worried that Teal'c was concerned about the current situation.

Teal'c turned the binoculars settings up to the infrared and implemented the other features, the ground swam into murky view below him, the ground was approximately 2 kilometres below them under thick fog, other elements also interfered with their ability to see right to the base of the mountain they were currently standing on top of.

The training mission was on the face of it a simple one, hike to a vantage point, then observe and note the tactically weak points of the 'enemy' base below them, infiltrate and get into the base without any casualties.

However, they were 2 kilometres up a mountain on a high gravity planet.

Teal'c guessed that O'Neill would have had many choice words to say on their current situation, none of them positive.

"You got the arrows Teal'c?" Whispered the solider beside him, while the fog obscured them from the ground, there was an odd lack of noise in the environment, it seemed almost unnatural to Teal'c, he had journeyed to many planets as a Jaffa and with SG1, he also knew that there were others on this planet and indeed how far away their camp was having hiked the last two days to get to their current position, but the lack of sound was odd.

"Indeed." He replied removing the arrows he had been carrying as part their mission.

The soldier beside him loaded the first of two arrows into the weapon, as did the four others who made up the squad of 8.

The weapon was different, both in terms of the Tau'ri, and the Goa'uld. Teal'c had recognised it during the briefing and had still been intrigued by it's range and accuracy.

The Tau'ri in general and O'Neill, Col Carter and Daniel Jackson would have recognised the basic design as a crossbow. Though not of any familil construction he had seen before.

Having witnessed its use prior to the mission they were on Teal'c had a new appreciation for this weapon these Tau'ri had constructed, it was practically silent, with a very long range.

Though was they were using for on this mission, he still had his concerns about.

Teal'c watched through the binoculars, keeping watch on the target area for their two bolts, the second arrow struck into the hard ground parallel with the first.

"The arrow has struck on target." He reported softly.

"Now for the bad part?" The soldier beside him chuckled as he repacked his pack.

"You all know what to do, remember, keep a hold of one another, when we leap and brace. Be prepared for enemy fire, this should allow us some pre-emptive strikes before we get our arses shot at."

Teal'c steeled himself as he looked over the edge and grabbed a firm hold of the soldier beside him as they arranged themselves to jump off a cliff, on a high gravity world, with nothing on their backs except backpacks containing their equipment and weapons.

"Three, two, one, Jump!"

The air rushing past his ears was intense, Teal'c only had moments to consider what was happening and then he impacted. With the field they'd set up by firing the arrows into the ground, which created a field which cushioned their un-slowed decent to the ground, it was still a _very_ hard impact and around him the soldiers were groaning and shaking, their legs and looking around for possible targets.

It was a, not pleasant experience Teal'c reflected.

_Present…_

Teal'c zipped the jacket up around his chest, despite the relatively mild days on this planet, the night were long and had become quite cold, he had realised very quickly that a fire was not just favourable it was necessary.

As far as he could tell there were no major dangerous animals present that needed keeping at bay during the night, the elements were enough, there were some insects that were attracted to either the fire or his flesh, but the tretonin in his body seemed to halt their feasting on him.

It was as he was finishing setting up his bedding for the night and readying himself to eat that he heard strange rising and falling, groaning, almost strangled noise as though something were forcing its way onto the planet.

Teal'c looked around checking the perimeter he'd marked out, where he could see given the firelight and then his outer perimeter were he could just make out the woods from the moonlights that filtered down from two of the three small moons which orbited this planet. There was nothing.

Checking his weapon and taking the torch he carefully built up the fire, if he was away for a while and the night wore on it would be impossible to light the fire when the cold of night set in, he had learnt that the hard way on his second night on this planet, and had barely survived, meditating deeply to try and combat the hypothermia.

Susan ran her hands through the small plant on the ground near where the ship had landed, it smelt vaguely of mint, or perhaps more like the _Synsepalum dulcificum_. Susan looked back at the ship, Grandfather had said the ship needed to last few journeys, Ian and Barbara had been asleep when the ship had landed. She'd checked the instruments prior to going outside.

Grandfather had told her to be careful, not to wonder too far, but he too seemed like he wanted to rest slightly, or he wanted to take the time to work alone on the ship.

Susan breathed in the cool air. It reminded her of her and her grandfather's home planet, the cold air, the mountains. She looked up, smiling to herself, remembering their planet, as it was when she left and when she and her grandfather departed.

This planet seemed to have two moons.

The cold didn't worry her, she guessed though it would be of concern to Ian and Barbara, but they'd grown up on 20th century Earth, their knowledge of cold, and hot were apart from her and grandfather's.

She liked to walk on her own sometimes, sometimes it was nice, to be alone, in the night, or as she'd done on Earth, the fog.

Then a man stepped out of the woods looking around with a torch.

This was not a shocking experience, although the ship's instruments had read there was no complex life in the immediate area that may have just been one of the malfunctioning systems which grandfather had not had time to correct.

Susan and her grandfather's people had a connection to time, sometimes it was barely there, it was a sense, like human's senses, their ability to sense and feel time was apart of their biology.

Susan had something extra though, among her people her gifts of telepathy were something else, many had the ability to some extent but she had always been strong with those abilities, though aside from their recent excursion on Sense Sphere it was an ability she rarely used.

But when she saw the man, he felt _wrong_, it was not the fact that he was holding a gun, such things might have concerned her in the past, but there was something more…out of place with the man.

He was a man, she knew that as she walked through the woods towards him, and away from a direct line of sight of the ship.

He swung the torch around, watching unspoken as she walked to within an easy distance of him, though aside from the noise of the few insects around them there was not much noise of the planet.

He said nothing, nor did she as she looked at him.

He was tall, towering over her, he had the stance of a warrior, there was a symbol tattooed or branded onto his forehead, it reminded her of something. Probably not Aztec Susan recalled with a suppressed shudder, recalling those events. If Barbara were here she might have been able to enlighten her.

"Hello." She said, in a level tone, the feeling, the sense now that she was closer to him was more pronounced, more intense, there was a definite feeling of wrongness, of displacement, of disconnection. It…it scared her, she couldn't define it exactly, and scared her.

"Hello."

His voice was deep and had Ian or Barbara been here would have said monotone, though there were complexities and subtleties even in a single word. Her people had much practise in monotone, 'boring' her grandfather had commented when they had departed their home planet. There was also the interesting fact that it had been spoken in English, without the ship assisting in any way.

"You're wrong." She blurted out, she clasped a hand over her mouth, shocked at herself she had blurted it out, but it was a definite sense, and she had to say, it was a trait she had probably learnt travelling with her grandfather she reflected.

"How am I wrong…?" He trailed off on a rising inflection, seemingly requesting a name.

"Susan, and you?"

"Teal'c, how am I wrong Susan?"

"This planet is meant to be uninhabited."

"I believe it usually is." He said without adding more information.

"You're not from this planet are you?"

"No."

"You're…wrong, you're not from this planet, but it's more, much more." She took a step closer to him, he looked down at her, and holstered the strange gun, it was unlike anything she'd seen previously, though she didn't have a great interest in the weapons of a species.

As she stepped closer she opened up her senses, stifling a gasp at just how far this person's journey had stretched, not just time, but space and the walls of the universes.

"You're not of this planet, you're very far from your home Teal'c." She said in a soft voice.

"Indeed, I am." Even in these words she could sense a lot, some wonder, some sorrow, concern, other emotions buried within those three words.

"How did you come here?"

"Who are _you_ Susan, why are you here?"

She blinked, stepping back slightly, her hands brushing the tall grasses around them.

"A wanderer, a traveller." She said looking back in the direction of the ship. "We came, the ship needed to rest." She said vaguely and turned back away from the woods to Teal'c, he raised an eyebrow at her answer.

"I also came in a ship."

"One that jumped the walls between universes." Susan whispered.

"Yes." He nodded slightly, confirming her statement.

"Can you return?" She knew all too well that feeling, though maybe one day…

"My…friends believe so, it will take time." Susan looked up at the word time. It was a powerful word in many places on her and her grandfather's home planet, not just a word to describe the passage of events, it was a whole part of society, a part of themselves.

"Good." She smiled at him, and turned to leave him to whatever.

"What ship did you arrive in Susan?" He asked curiosely.

Susan stopped, her grandfather would not be happy if she brought him into the ship, but she had been gone for a while, he might be ready to depart when she arrived back.

"A ship. We can't help you return, the walls are…difficult to cross."

He nodded, seemingly understanding the complexities involved.

He followed, carefully and quietly behind her as she reached the small clearing where the ship had arrived.

He stopped beside a large tree near the path that they both walked.

"Goodnight Teal'c, good luck." She smiled a small smile and turned, removing her key and opening the doors to the ship, she turned and looked back at the man and walked inside.

--/

Teal'c watched the odd young woman smile and walk inside the box. It said Police Box on the front and its windows were faintly lit from behind.

He could hear a faint humming coming from it, even before the young woman; Susan had opened the doors.

Then there was a thundering noise, a groaning noise that rose and fell, as he'd heard before, but now he heard it up close. The light on the top of the box began to flash and the box disappeared.

The only indication that the box gave that it had been in the forest was a square indent in the grass, and the footsteps of the young woman.

--/

Teal'c shivered awake as the morning sun fell across his face, his fire had gone out during the night, and while he was still cold, he had not succumbed to any extremes of cold during the night. Except the meeting of the young woman and the strange box that had disappeared from the forest, that was something he resolved to ask the UNIT commanders about if, no when he completed this mission.

Teal'c chastised himself for considering defeat as he set about rising and removing traces of his camp.

Before setting off he consulted the directional beacon he'd constructed. The parts had been within his bag, and had been necessary to construct before he knew the location of the homing beacon according the instructions that was where he needed to head for. In order to make the beacon function he needed to remove the power supply from his weapon, he had also needed to cannibalise parts of his radio as the beacon had been missing parts, it was not as elegant as Col Carter probably could have constructed, but it functioned.

He took his bearing and then disassembled the device once more, he could keep a vague heading utilising various techniques, but he preferred to have access to his weapon.

--/

At around midday, judging by the height of the sun Teal'c could see that he was approaching the edge of the forest, it appeared to be thinning out to reveal a flatter land beyond.

Though, it _looked_ this way, Teal'c tensed and prepared himself, things often looked one way and appeared in person another, senator Kinsey for one.

As Teal'c stepped out of the main tree line and looked around him it looked to be a much more level and open area, from here he could take much more accurate bearings and would hopefully cut some distance off his journey.

He looked back at the forest for a moment and then turned to face the land ahead.

He blinked, the land ahead and in fact all around him was white with snow, he could feel the cold wind on his chest, taste the ice as he breathed in.

He turned around, deciding to return to the relative comfort of the forest, but behind him the trees were also white, heavy with snow.

Teal'c imagined what O'Neill would say in this situation, it made him smile to think of his reaction, though, Teal'c didn't feel _that_ frustrated, he did volunteer and push to be involved in this training mission.

Teal'c had, by his measure been walking for a few kilometres, he'd stopped to eat and refill his water bottles with the snow, at least he would not have to build dew catchers to capture drinking water each day.

It was then out of the snow sprung two large ice carvings of snow leopards, as he approached he saw the path ahead was a chasm, with three paths ahead.

As he got very close to them, the snow in front of him melted to spell out a message.

_There are three paths across. _

_Ask the leopards one question._

_One lies._

Teal'c looked between the two ice sculptures and then to the three ice bridges.

He recalled hearing Daniel Jackson recount a riddle such as this on one occasion, but in that riddle there were only two paths.

The solution to _that_ riddle was ask what the other would say, both would then point to the incorrect path.

But, that was assuming that there was only one incorrect path.

Teal'c ignored the ice sculptures for a moment walking around them to inspect the three bridges.

They were long, but not too long, he couldn't jump the casam, not from one side to the other, but if he was able to make it half way, or even a quarter at a running jump he would make it.

That was assuming the path did not fall as soon as he made his approach.

Teal'c looked between the two statues, this was a situation in which Daniel Jackson would be of great assistance.

--/

Teal'c carefully pulled off his backpack avoiding his scratched and wounded hands, a result of his solution to crossing the bridges.

He'd found the communications tower a short time after he had crossed the chasm, inside what appeared to be an abandoned tower. Unfortunately the door had been on some form of spring release, and opening it had wrenched his shoulder, dislocating it.

It was the only option as night was falling and the temperature was dropping rapidly.

Leaving his pack on the ground he looked around in the dim light for a solid enough looking wall, and slammed his back into the wall, pushing his should back into alignment and slumping to the ground to tend his other wounds.

--/

Blinking Teal'c rose from sleep, or possible exhaustion he was not sure.

After consuming a little of his food and water Teal'c made a thorough inspection of the tower he was in, a staircase lead to a second level where the instruments sat, from what he was able to determine this was _not_ his destination, but merely a relay tower for the signal. The instruments that were functioning indicated where the signal was being relay from, though it was lacking any indication of scale as to how far away the beacon was.

Teal'c looked around outside as he stepped out of the tower that had been his sheltered for a night.

The landscape had completely changed, the snow had disappeared leaving a green grass like cover surrounding the tower, but the path ahead was clear.

--/

It had been stuck for a two days Teal'c reckoned since they had been stuck in the cave. _They_ were other soldiers whom he had encountered as he tracked the beacon's signal, some of them he had discovered had already past through a second beacon and were also following the same that he and one of the others were. There was a total of 5 of them, including himself.

They'd been walking along a area of dry bushland when they'd fallen through a patch of unstable ground which had given way beneath them.

Most of them had been knocked or blacked out by the fall, in the hours after they'd awoken they'd found out it was a fungus nearby that had knocked them out, more than the fall onto the ground, which aside from cuts, bruises and strains there was no drastically bad damage.

Dealing with the fungus had been relatively easy, though not simple, none of them Teal'c included could get very close without its…whatever it was knocking them unconscious.

They had used up many hours digging and throwing dirt over it, leaving them exhausted.

Now they were _discussing_ how to escape, digging out had been vetoed, by rationale of the fungus' overpowering effects would stop them.

"I agree, we should attempt a transference ritual." Teal'c murmured in agreement.

"Using up most of our sorcery supplies in the process Teal'c, what about the nights if we get stuck up there without means of fire we'll probably die of hypothermia."

"If we're on the Northern hemisphere of this planet." Interjected another soldier.

"Yeah. _If_,but since we've all been through a bloody freezing night, we know how fucking cold it gets out here. So we going to try the fuck out of this oversized ditch?"

Teal'c used to find the human's constant use of profanity odd, especially considering that most of the words were related to reproduction, defecating, one's sexual organs, how a person might mate with an animal, comparing people to animals, making comparative comments about religion and others. Only the latter he could understand, though now, after spending much time with O'Neill and around the SGC, he could understand the Tau'ri and by extension these humans need to emphasise their sentences.

"Of brilliant, just fucking brilliant, that's what we've got to work with?" The soldier's Scots accent echoing around the cave the were in.

It was another hour before they were ready.

All five of them sitting around a flicking flame in the middle of their circle, holding one another's hands and chanting, a low, repetitive set of words, that sounded to Teal'c like Latin or Ancient mixed with other words.

Channels had been dug out to each of them were a small collection of their sorcery elements had been mixed and placed.

They would activate when the flame was to pulse at a crescendo of their chanting and ignite, completing the translocation ritual.

--/

Teal'c breathed a ragged breath of the fresh air, his clothing was still burning and his hair had a similar feeling and smell.

The crescendo and following explosion of light, sound and heat had been…less than pleasant, but despite the scared look of the other soliders none of them stopped, and then he was lying on the ground, out of the cave drawing in ragged breaths of air to calm himself and soothe his lungs.

--/

Teal'c along with many of the others that he had re-met up with no longer cared how long they'd been on this planet.

Their supplies were becoming very low, and were in part relying on the not palatable vegetation, insects and small marsupials for sustenance.

The constant attacks at night had left them with bruises upon bruises and very little sleep, and still no idea who was attacking them or if they were ever part of the training. Teal'c had been knocked unconscious more than once by one of their assailants, it seemed the attacks became more frequent thr further north they walked.

Though whether it constituted 'north' was a matter of open discussion amongst some of the soldiers he was journeying with.

--/

They could see the ship, it was landed in a small ravine, waiting for them.

"Teal'c, Teal'c!" Someone shook him, Teal'c shook himself awake, grabbing at the fronds that were against his face, it took much of their energy to pass through this foliage, it seemed to have a psychotropic properties, he did not enjoy the 'head trips' at all as many of them called it.

"I am…awake." He said after a moment.

Teal'c would not admit it to anyone, perhaps not even himself, but, a small portion of him was beginning to regret pushing to be involved in this elite training mission.

The humans that had greater experience in the sorcery arts seemed to be working with their environment more efficiently than he was. Even those with so called 'no experience' had some, Teal'c limited experience was, limiting him.

Not that he would admit this to anyone.

It made him want to walk away, run away, an fear of this area bubbled up inside of him and made him want to tear through the assembled people, something was here, something that was a danger to all of them. Teal'c could sense it he could _feel_ it. It was a something, he couldn't explain it, but he knew he had to get away from here before _it_ happened.

Teal'c gripped the staff that he'd been carving, it was mainly the beat the foliage, braken and other things out of the way, something to occupy him in the hours before sleep and when he awoke before the others, something to keep his mind of the gnawing doubt, and paranoia that had been bubbling for…however long it had been.

He wondered if the others felt this way, if they wanted to run like a coward, escape this place, if he was the only one.

"You okay mate?"

"I…am…fine…" He said, biting out each word.

"Try not to worry about it, it's some sort of psychological deterrent field." He patted Teal'c on the shoulder, smiling.

Teal'c's face remained impassive, as he wondered if that was all it was, whether they it was just an environmental effect or maybe, _maybe_ there was someone in their ranks working against them, it was not the first time he had needed to deal with something like that.

--/

This was where the signal they had been tracking for…Teal'c didn't know how long, by this point he was beyond caring.

That did not mean they did not have a sense of caution.

"Looks like a Dalek design." Whispered one of the soldiers beside him.

"Approach triangle point attack, four in each."

"Right, let's go, 30 seconds then attack."

Teal'c un-holstered his weapon as did the others, they knew they had no more than three shots _if_ that. They had each used the power and other pieces from their weapons for other things, heating, fixing the locating device, other sorcery based tools.

Teal'c slowly counted down mentally, as he reached zero he nodded to the others.

They made it close to the craft before the things, the Daleks came wobbling out of the craft.

Unbelievingly they managed to destroy most of them.

Teal'c grabbed one that came at him by its gun stick and shoved it along the ground where it hit something and toppled over.

"It's empty!" He shouted. So far, aside from shouting 'Exterminate' at them not much else had happened, they'd all been running on adrenalin to really process that they weren't shooting back. "It's empty." He said again as the others came over, inside was indeed empty, just a simple motor control, it didn't even look like it was made of metal.

The interior of the craft was real, and so was the countdown on the explosive device inside.

His ears were still ringing when the UNIT officers arrived on site.

--/

Teal'c sat, with the others in the ship's mess, eating real food for the first time in what seemed link months.

He felt good having survived, and come out without harming anyone, even though there had been some…occasions when he had considered it.

He wondered, now that he was onboard a ship heading back to Research Base One how, O'Neill, Col Carter and Daniel Jackson were.

--/

_This chapter took me forever to finish._

_I had a small couple of paragraphs written, and the middle section where Teal'c encounters Susan planned very early on._

_But the rest really gave me trouble, and I contemplated just ending it with his encounter with Susan._

_But ending it there felt like not much of a journey (and as I've put the other characters through a bit of hell I didn't want to leave out Teal'c). _

_I'm still not completely happy with this, there's a lot of jumps in time for convienance, I also don't think I've got as good a grip on Teal'c character as I do the others._

_I really will try to get next chapter out within two weeks, writing for Daniel (and hopefully the others) doesn't stump me as much as Teal'c has._

_Thanks for reading._


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

(This picks up from events in Chapter 09, just in case anyone is wondering)

Daniel wondered how he got into these sorts of situations.

He was still blacked out, he could tell by the non-feeling of swimming that came with it, that his body wasn't quite ready to swim back into consciousness.

Daniel could just about imagine a British accented voice mutter 'previously in Daniel's life…' and decided he had, in recent times watched too many TV shows with Jack.

_But_, Daniel had come to the decision that in situations that involved being knocked into unconsciousness, thinking back through the recent events did help to ready oneself as his mind was dragged back into the world of conscious.

It had taken around a week to decipher and translate the puzzles on the plinths.

Daniel didn't have a firm fix on the timing, the days and nights were long on the planet after the first couple of days he'd given up trying to apply Earth timing to the planet, it just didn't make sense a lot of the time.

Plus there was what happened at night, that was still quite worrying.

They'd begun work on a large half sphere set onto a dais. It was about was around a kilometre in diameter, made of the same stone or whatever it was that the plinths had been.

They'd used the vehicles they had with them, four wheel drives that were from what he could tell solar powered, charging themselves sitting out in the intense sunlight during the day.

They could have walked, but it wasn't worth the chance getting stuck out at night, no one risked being out at night on this planet.

Even thinking about the night made his memory go rigid, there was something, something about night on this planet, that, human language didn't have the words for it, but their senses did.

He'd begun to find a knack in deciphering the Osiran language. It was far more complex than standard Goa'uld. But he'd spent enough time with Sam helping her to decipher the more complicated bits and pieces left over from Nirriti and Anubus' work, was often written in a complex system that couldn't be 'easily' translated.

It was when they'd settled down to attempt to activate what seemed to be the logical step that everything went…bad.

According to the portable sensors and all the other equipment they'd set up around them activating the symbols wouldn't do much, but it might.

There were still a lot of question marks, which was why they hoped doing _something_ would remove them.

He should have known better than to go seeking answers to question marks, that way only lead to death, or Jack telling him 'I told ya so'.

Daniel didn't know which was worse.

It was when they'd begun to enter the final sequence of symbols that he realised everything was going _really _badly.

About the time that all the alarms went off, radiation, psionic, gravity, and a dozen other warnings he hadn't really paid attention to.

Then it all went dark and he and he could hear the others really began to panic.

The dark was something to be more than concerned about on this planet.

Then it really went dark and that was when whatever happened, happened.

Obviously Daniel thought as he pushed himself up from the sandy ground, a title sequence complete with theme music should start while he began the process of standing up and being attacked by beautiful women from his past who turn out to be infested with snake like parasites.

"Odd." He said to himself worryingly, it was dark, darker than the night on this planet, but he was none of the things he'd been warned about. Nor was there that feeling he and the others felt at night, the creeping sensation, the worry, the sense of something forgotten, which unprotected ran to full paranoia and homicidal tendencies, that were combined with everything else that occurred.

"You're telling me Jackson."

"Gregory?" Daniel called out in the direction of the voice, Gregory Hunt was one of the many archaeologists that was working on the planet, though he'd been some distance away monitoring background radiation as they entered the sequence of symbols.

"Ya, we're not dead yet, always a good sign." His Russian accent carried across the distance between them, but there wasn't any trace of an echo.

"Here, this should lend some light to the situation." There was a crack and suddenly both of them were illuminated by the green light of a glow stick.

"Why didn't you have it out already?"

"Watch." He said waving it in around them, it seemed to dim as he held it up above his head or down to the sandy ground, as he did so Daniel got a look around them.

They were in a room, made of some sort of sandstone, maybe bricks of some form, the darkness was everywhere around them.

Daniel wasn't sure if he was happier with or without the light.

"Ah, as Jack would say, crap." Daniel said to himself as he patted down his own pockets remembering the emergency kits that had been drilled into him that he must always carry.

He had a pack of ten glow sticks, the protective sun block, and some food bars in a top pocket, his larger pack had been sitting next to him as he

He shook his head, trying to rid himself of the headache that came as one woke from unconsciousness.

It wasn't exactly the first time, waking from unconsciousness, and not the waking up comfortably in a warm bed. That sort of unconsciousness was few and far between, and knowing his luck he was probably, in those situations sharing it with a beautiful woman. Who then turns out to be a Goa'uld, or an alien that wants to turn him into a syrup to feed its young.

On reflection the alien syrup was less painful than the Goa'uld, though some of his clothes still smelt of honey.

--/

Daniel wasn't sure exactly how long they'd been walking, but they had amassed the rest of the expedition and had, as Jack would say discovered 'they were screwed'.

Daniel wondered what Jack was up to at the moment, out of he, Sam and Teal'c Jack hadn't _immediately_ been poached or otherwise by areas of UNIT as Sam and Teal'c and other members of the _Prometheus_ crew.

The sorcerers that were part of the expedition had tried to get out of the, wherever they were. Daniel looked across to where they were sat in a circle, talking over ideas, and looking at the supplies that everyone had to problem solve a method of escaping.

Where they were escaping from was still under discussion by him and the other archaeologists, geologists and others.

The sorcerers and geologist had agreed some time ago that they were underground, rather than locked in some stone prison somewhere, so if night came they were most likely safe, though they'd need to plan for the eventuality, just in case they weren't protected.

Just how aside from panic hadn't been decided.

--/

Daniel pulled himself away from the theoretical discussions, it had been, he had to admit a while since he'd had a really academic and refined discussion with other archaeologists, especially in a problem solving life-threatening situation. Usually only the latter, with Jack, Sam and Teal'c, now just Sam and Teal'c since Jack got himself promoted.

Daniel sat down onto the sand, buttoning up the last few buttons of his jacket, he wasn't cold per se, but according to his watch night would have been approaching had they been where they were on the surface.

As far as cells went it wasn't the worst, that was one thing they had decided on, that some force had brought them here.

Or they might all be imagining this and this was…the some total of what they imagined.

Which kinda sucked, after all the places he'd been locked up this, wasn't exactly the amazing.

Dragging his hands through the sand Daniel was reminded of the texture of the sand in another cell, that wasn't.

Thor's challenges had sand of the same consistency as this.

Daniel stopped and looked around, he doubted that this universe, with its lack of Stargates and its no Goa'uld but plenty of aliens wanting to commit mass genocide that the little grey guys weren't lurking around here, waiting to be carefully enigmatic.

Daniel idly ran his hands through the sand not really thinking.

It was sand he thought to himself that re-kick started everything off again, drawing in the sand of a dirty cell, the home symbol of Earth, the Tau'ri.

Without knowing or thinking about it he found he had written out Earth's address, it was laid out before him. For several moments he wasn't sure how or even why he'd done it.

"Oh." He said, lacking anything else to say, except 'Oh' having realised he didn't write Earth's address.

Not of his own volition anyways.

_What are these symbols?_

Daniel stood, or he might have been already standing, he wasn't sure as he looked around for the others, they weren't there. Then he realised, looking up he saw the night sky.

He was the first to admit he panicked slightly, being outside, at night on this planet.

_What are these symbols?_

It wasn't a voice, not really. He was quite sure of that.

It was more a concept, wrapped in a language.

"They're the address to my home." Daniel said looking around. Trying to find the source or the words, that weren't words.

They could actually just all be in his head. This was why he needed Sam and Teal'c around, to make sure he wasn't just talking to himself.

_They are the path across the celestial ocean._

"Who are you?" Daniel said looking around, hoping for not a squishy squelchy thing that would suckle him to death.

_A removed from knowledge by Sutekh brother of Horus._

Daniel blinked, whatever this thing was, however it was communicating, obviously there wasn't a concept in his brain that summed up what this thing, which he couldn't see, sense of acknowledge that it existed.

Except it did, he kept getting a creeping sensation of its existence. The last time he'd felt like this he'd been, well, dead and Anubis had been around fun times…

_You have a complex mind._

Daniel shrugged.

_You do not belong. You are like the time walkers, outside of your existence, an untravelled path._

Daniel couldn't help but wonder about the syntax of the language and how it was translating through concepts into his head, he was quite sure it, whatever it was, wasn't speaking in any direct way to him.

"The others?"'

_You have awoken the of the Osiran, a legacy left to dictate our , your others are held in safety. _

Uh oh. Daniel thought to himself. If the others were captured in safety, where was he?

Outside and looking at the stars, most likely soon to be dead.

_Death and life are two tangible extremes. _

"I've been in both." Daniel grabbed at the cloth for his glasses from in external pocket and removed them, cleaning whatever bits of grit from them and replacing them onto the bridge of his nose. With the lack of anything to talk to he might as well prepare _in case_ something pops up that he could talk to.

Almost unconsciously his hand drifted down to the weapon holstered on his hip.

After a while, of silence, even though all of the 'conversations' had been conducted in relative silence anyway Daniel spoke up again, briefly wondering if the Osiran was reading his mind.

"What do you want?" Having had a relatively decent answer from the default 'who are you' this was the second on his 'getting to know people' list. People that is who rose from the dead and whatever else.

_We are a testament to the , fought amongst the celestial ocean, recorded in plain sight for those who walked in the briefest of moments, we as you see us are a warning and a memory. Sutekh warned that he would return, but his dalliance with resurrection was nothing to the hurricane that rippled through the temporal desert that the time walkers inhabited._

_We are a testament, a memory of what was and what could have been, like you are Daniel Jackson._

Daniel felt a trickle of sweat fall down his back making him shiver as he looked up at the night sky, pretending he was talking to that and not the what could be around him, what the night threatened to do, if he was outside, unprotected.

_A testament had we not been, had the path been walked in another way. You do not belong, here. _

There was a flash of light around him and the rest of the expedition were standing around him.

_The psi-projectors will protect you till dawn. _

_Sutkeh said, 'Where I tread I leave nothing but dust and darkness' this is his legacy. Beware the darkness Daniel Jackson, you have trodden on the path of enlightenment. But it is not the final path. _

Daniel looked around, the whatever he had been feeling was gone, all except the sweat trickling down his back, that was still there.

Around the group forming a square were what appeared to be small pyramids, protecting them from the night.

Daniel exhaled the breath he'd been unknowingly holding, and sucked in several deep breaths of the cool night air, enjoying the way it felt in his lungs, and the quiet in his mind, that the lack of the presence brought with it.

"You alright Dr Jackson?"

"Yeah, yes. I think I am…" Daniel said looking back up to the stars and the great blackness above them. He'd managed to encounter a powerful, stupendously powerful from what he knew so far, and aside from the beginnings of a mild headache he'd not been injured or harmed in any way.

As he went over to where the others of the expedition were collecting themselves he wondered how Jack, Sam and Teal'c were doing.

--/

_This chapter is way over due._

_Every time I sat down to write this I just couldn't get anything to flow, I had the (some) of the ideas on paper, but I just didn't have a 'feel' for this chapter._

_It's done now. So next chapter I can start bringing everyone back together. Which will be a little easier. This chapter and Teal'c's were the hardest without any other characters to bounce the action between. _

_Thanks for reading and sitting patiently for this one, I won't say a week for the next chapter, but it'll definitely not be a month between chapters. _


	17. Chapter 17

--

--

Disclaimer: All characters, names, settings etc belong to their respective copyright holders, only Night Wolf and a few other things are of my own creation (but inspired from many things under copyright, which aren't mine).

**Chapter 17**

Harry looked out of the window at the waves slowly crashing against the beach, it was a view he looked out upon sporadically considering the amount of time he spent in space, or on other planets or where ever.

It might be a little like his normal view if there wasn't a man sitting in a deck chair, with a fishing rod and an esky beside him.

Said man was one Jack O'Neill.

Jack took a swig of his beer and looked out across the bay. It wasn't his cabin, not that he knew if his cabin existed here, not that the UNIT guys would let him use one of their satellites to find out, that kinda sucked.

But it was water, _with_ fish in it and he had beer, too bad Danny, Carter and Teal'c weren't here.

This was his 'punishment' Harry had decided, for his little bout of time travelling, though at least the Brigadier had conceded he saved a lot of people. Except it was more than frowned upon, time travelling that is.

As there weren't any ships heading back to Research Base One, where he'd be reunited with his ship he got the 'opportunity' to look after General Jack O'Neill. As the Brigadier had said _"You've worked so well with General O'Neill a couple more days shouldn't worry you_."

Uncapping his own beer he took a large swig, it was nice feeling the air on his face the sun shining, not quite at its apex, but not low enough that could be considered going down.

But at the forefront of his mind he knew that the _Hattah_ was out there and that he should be on it, not here enjoying his view, albeit with a guy in a deck chair and a fishing rod, that he wasn't even using beside him.

A phone ringing broke Harry out of his deep thoughts, the phone was a mobile as he'd still yet to take the time to get the phone connected to his house, though considering how much he wasn't here it didn't seem to be something he needed. Plus the mobile phone could be connected through a secure UN satellite and wasn't at all bulky.

"Potter."

"_Mr Potter, we've just received word from the __ASCS __Mutawintji."_

Harry nodded to himself as he was informed of the subsequent battle the ASCS _Mutawintji _had been involved in, and the subsequent retrieval of Lt Col Carter and the rest of the scientists that had been taken by the Daleks.

"Are they on-route to Research Base One?"

"Yes, currently travelling low-speed in hyperspace ETA 8 hours. General Lethbridge-Stewart thought you and your guest would like to know."

"Yes. Thanks." Harry said as he ended the call and looked out to where Jack was sitting oblivious to his phone call.

Harry was relatively sure what Jack would say when he told him, from the time he'd spent with him he was a very passionate man and commander. Someone who still wanted to be out in the field being ordered out into the field rather than giving the orders.

Harry also sensed that he would be more than a little distressed when he informed him of Lt Col Carter's capture, torture, injury, irradiation and infection.

Harry watched as Jack rose from his chair and walked back towards the house.

"What's the matter Harry?"

"Just got a call." Harry said, a neutral expression set into his features, an expression he usually reserved for when the job demanded it finding those they lost battles in space, it wasn't a frequent task, but something that was part of the job.

Jack stared at him. "Danny didn't get kidnapped _again_ did he?" He asked jokingly as he went over to the fridge.

"No. Lt Col Carter was." Harry answered. Jack stopped ridged, his back still to him.

"D'you get her back?"

"Yes, she and the other scientists are safe, they're on their way back to Research Base One."

"Who kidnapped them?"

"The Daleks."

"Those pepper-pots aliens in a jar thingies?" Jack turned around to face him, a grim, annoyed, almost angry expression lighting his eyes.

Harry smiled. "Yeah those."

"When can we get back there?"

"To Research Base One?"

"Yeah?"

"Couple of days, maybe 5." Harry said, he'd asked while he'd been on the phone, anticipating Jack's question, if he was team leader he'd have asked the same question.

"Aww, come on, can't we you know take one of those platypus ships, fly out there like you did?"

"I got a lift and no." Harry was relatively sure the Brigadier wouldn't authorise it, especially considering much extra distance they'd need to cover, with him the only qualified pilot. The platypuses were rated for the distance, though they'd only recently begun seriously trialling them and Harry knew that the Brig definitely wouldn't let Jack in a Thylacine for the distance.

Jack's face dropped and settled into a sulk.

Harry moved forward slapping a hand down on Jack's shoulder. "They said she's stable Jack. Now how about we head out for an early drink and meal."

Jack face rose up slightly from sulky to slightly hopeful.

"As long as you don't do that misting thing."

"Fine, we can take my car."

"You have a car?" Jack asked as Harry walked past him back to where Jack had left the esky and the chair.

"Did you think that I only misted places?"

"Yeah. You sure we can't you know borrow a ship?"

"I suppose you do that all the time?" Harry said as he folded up the chair and caught a shrug of the affirmative from Jack and raised an eyebrow.

"It wasn't _my _fault. Some snakes stole it first, then Thor needed help."

Harry had a sense that he wasn't talking about the Norse god. Especially considering what Jack had told him thus far about the Stargate and he and "his team's" adventures through it, not that he'd called them adventures, that was just how Harry framed it, despite having seen the Stargate from Jack's memories, it was a little hard to believe the US Air Force had a giant stone ring _inside _Cheyenne Mountain of all places.

--/

Samantha Carter, Lt Col in the United States Air Force gritted her teeth and decided that she wasn't going to throw up, not again.

If she did, then she'd have to revisit her breakfast, which was relatively pleasant the first time she'd met it.

The concoction she'd had to drink _before_ breakfast was not, she was relatively certain that it had been bubbling, and not the pleasant bubbling of a cool beer, it had been…bubbling like a pot on the boil.

According to the doctors who had treated her it was the naquadah in her body that made the treatment of the radiation more difficult than the others who had been exposed.

If she did manage to keep her breakfast down she'd be allowed out of the medical facility on the planet, allowed to walk, or in her current state hobble around.

That was another thing she couldn't quite believe, her left leg had been crushed and broken by the Dalek's torture…

Sam blinked as images, memories of the interrogation flashed through her mind's eye. Not just memories, echoes of from the mental analysis the Daleks had conducted, according to the doctors with some work these echoes would pass.

As she put down the napkin she was holding, and looked away from the 'vomit pan' she looked at her arm.

Like her left leg her right arm had been broken, she remembered that and the sound it had made when it had been snapped. If she'd been in the SGC's care it would be in a cast, but here, it was relatively fine. It still ached, and it needed to be wrapped and a salve applied daily, but she could use it, more or less.

Her leg however was another story, from the way the doctors had explained it, they had removed all shattered and in some cases pulverised bone and muscle tissue and then _re-grown_ it.

She hadn't found out the specifics, something to do with sorcery induced regeneration and creation, utilising a range of technologies and elements. It had been a vague answer, but for now she was going to go with it, if it hadn't been for whatever had happened she doubted she would be able to use the leg again without substantial artificial elements placed in her leg.

The doctors however assured her that her leg would be as good as her old one, as long as she stuck to their instructions.

--/

Daniel looked out the window, which wasn't a window as they transitioned from hyperspace to normal space. The slightly disconcerting shifting sea of red and black gave way to black with points of light and a planet. He tapped the window, that was actually a screen so he got a forward perspective view, what the bridge would be seeing. If he'd been on _Prometheus _that is, the bridge on this ship was protected in the middle of the ship.

When he begun to think about it, it was partially historical legacy that kept the bridge at the front of the ship, technically speaking aside from the large window, made out of something, Sam had explained it technically wasn't a window in the glass sense. It was probably a psychological thing, being able to look out across the battlefield.

Daniel looked at the window that wasn't and hoped Sam was okay. He'd received a message when he'd got aboard the ship, after going through quarantine where they'd run a variety of scans following his 'conversation'.

At least no one thought he was mad and had just been talking to his over active imagination.

She'd been down on the planet for at least a week recovering from her injuries sustained. That was all the information he'd been given, Jack supposedly was on his way, waiting for a ship that was going from Earth here.

Being here in this universe he really began to miss the Stargate and the ease of movement that it brought, just dial in a set of symbols and step through. He'd always appreciated that is was a feat of engineering, but in this universe with their bases and outposts on other planets, their investigative outposts, research teams it was a mammoth logistical task. Though being on this recent dig, had made him think of archaeological digs he had been on prior to becoming involved in the Stargate program; out away from civilization, no satellite phone, no ship in orbit to rescue you, just relying on yourself and those you were working with. Very much to the extreme in this universe though, they could call for help, though there was the ever present knowledge that it would not come straight away.

In some ways that was exciting, knowing that he and they were out on the frontier.

Years ago that would have scared him, though in the intervening time he'd died a few times, been through hell, literally and metaphorically, and in-between. Going through it all, knowing there were collegues, friends to rely on, to come back to, knowing that there was (probably) going to be rescue if he was captured by a giant space octopus was good.

Hopefully Jack and Teal'c would coming or already on the planet, he knew that Jack would cause trouble until he got here and Teal'c would…Teal'c would be Teal'c and also arrive in due haste.

--/

Harry stared at Jack, Jack ignored him as he had done for the last 3 hours.

Harry knew he should have worried, considering how easily Jack gave into him.

Jack was lucky he hadn't turned him into a frog and kept him in the bath for the rest of his time on Earth.

Harry looked back at Jack again.

"How long now?" Jack asked, again. As he looked out at the un-inspiring view. Harry punched him.

"Hey, what was that for?" Harry punched him again.

Jack turned to look at him, his face a picture of innocence. "What?"

"You have no cause to complain Jack." Harry didn't add that Jack had asked him that same question for the past 2 hours.

"I just wanted to know." Jack gestured their view. "It's not as though there's much to see, we should have brought a DVD."

"We could have watched a DVD and waited for a ship." Harry said as he slotted a bookmark into his novel and let it float beside the controls. "You wanted to leave as soon as possible."

That was an understatement, Jack was quite convincing (or rather annoying), enough that Harry considered stunning him and taking him into the bush somewhere.

But instead of the attempting to murder him Harry had given into his requests the concern in his eyes was relatively clear.

Maybe it had been the pained expression on Jack's face that had convinced the Brigadier, or maybe Harry's pained expression from Jack annoying him, how the guy had become a General, aside from what sounded like his yearly habbit of saving the world.

They're hitched a ride on three ships so far, none actually going very close to Research Base One, and annoyingly only enough time to land, jump out, have a toilet break and maybe something to eat before they had to strap back in and leave into the vastness through which they were currently travelling.

They were saving four days, maybe three by travelling to Research Base One by skipping across on various ships rather than waiting for a ship that was going directly there.

Something beeped on the controls in front of them, Jack looked up. Harry touched the button.

"_UNIT vessel RSCS Audacious, to UNIT vessel Transport-Alpha, sending co-ordinates for landing."_

"Received _Audacious_." Harry said as he took a hold of the controls.

"Another down, how many more?" Harry could almost tell that Jack would have added an extra question mark to his question if he could have.

"_You _wanted to get to Research Base One, '_as quick as possible_'." Harry motioned talking marks with his fingers.

"Hold onto the controls would ya, I don't want to be lost, in space." Jack smiled and then added. "Red space." Harry just looked at him. "I didn't think we'd be delivery guys across all your ships."

"The UN still has to pay for things Jack, my General couldn't just _give_ us a ship."

"You took one from your craft!"

"To come and sort out _your _problem."

"I could've handled the NCIS guys." Jack countered.

"What about the bomb that would have destroyed Venice?" Harry asked as the platypus transport and shuttle craft they were in manoeuvred around to the port side of the _Audacious_.

Harry strained as he concentrated on landing their ship on the _Audacious_, he was pretty sure Jack muttered something about 'slimy snakeheads', which seemed to be his favourite term for the Goa'uld, of which he seemed to always drop the apostrophe from.

"Regardless, I was ordered to use a a Thylacine to fly across _a lot_ of space to help you out. Just as I'm flying across a lot of space to help you again Jack."

"I could fly." He grinned. Harry sighed.

Of course the Brigadier wasn't going to just _give_ him a ship, even something like the platypus transport craft. While they were constantly building vessels there was a cost to everything, as Jack and the crew of the Prometheus had discovered. If they'd acquiesced to their requests for everything they needed to fix their ship, potentially fix at that it would have thrown their construction schedules (and their budget) out by a lot.

Harry wasn't even vaguely sure of how much UNIT's budget was, the sort of money spent boggled the imagination some what. Though the Brigadier and the others at the top obviously balanced everything better than well considering how many ships, thylacines, platypuses and other vessels that were being constructed at an ever increasing rate.

Harry touched the craft down and watched as the doors closed, sealing them in, he pushed a control opening the side of their craft. Behind them were various packing crates, not as much as when they began, but still quite a few.

This was what Jack had meant by 'delivery guys', they were delivering "non-essential parts and supplies" to ships between Earth and Research Base One. Some parts may have just become needed, may have been damaged or not replaced on a recent landing. The ships could generally just go over to secondary or tertiary systems, or use their stocks if they had them, but the run he and Jack were doing could mean a couple more days or weeks out longer than they could have before, which in theory made their trip efficient and justifiable.

Even if it was less interesting flying between ships, in a ship with no weapons and a guy who asked him ever hour or so how long it was till their next ship. At least he could distract him by asking about his various escapades.

Harry still thought they had it a bit easier with the Stargate, right across their galaxy, by typing in an address and stepping through an artificially created wormhole (though Jack had started to say something about apples and worms before Harry stopped him telling him he knew the basics and then some).

--/

Teal'c leaned against the wall of the ship he was on, they were once again on route to Research Base One, after the UNIT vessel had responded to a distress call, they had gone to the aid of their allies. Those that had been part of the training exercise had gone to assist, though it had been requested that he stay behind. Teal'c understood that although he had trained with them, he was not familiar with all their practices, such lack of knowledge, especially from the tone and noise of the ship could be critical.

Teal'c was also concerned, though hardly anyone outside those he counted as his friends would tell, for the health of Lt Col Samantha Carter. He had received a communication notifying him that she had been captured by the alien Daleks, but recovered, though she had been tortured. He was sure that Samantha Carter had been and was still strong throughout her experiences. But that did not make him less concerned about her. She was a strong warrior. But from what the others who he had trained with had spoken of the Daleks, the callousness and a ruthlessness that surpassed the Goa'uld, he had cause to worry for her.

--/

Sam grimaced and winced as she leaned on her cane. She was determined to enjoy the walk outside, the air was fresh, the sky was relatively clear and she was out of the hospital bed and able to walk around.

She'd asked about over doing it, but she'd been instructed that several of the salves needed her to _walk_ around, not run and certainly not go aboard any ships, her radiation treatments and many of the other treatments meant that she wouldn't be going to work back aboard _Prometheus_ for a few more weeks.

She winced again, an intense feeling of pins and needles washing down her leg as she walked, testing the pressure on her _new_ bones.

She didn't even notice when the man walked up to her.

"Hey Sam." Then Daniel hugged her and smiled at her.

"Daniel, hey." She said, not letting go of her grip on the cane. "How've you been?" She asked automatically.

Daniel looked at her. "Shouldn't I be asking you that Sam?"

"Come on, lets walk, I've been stuck in a hospital room for ages."

"Don't I know that feeling." He said smiling, Sam found she was smiling also as they started to walk, slowly.

--/

"Hey, Teal'c buddy." Jack shouted from the landing pad where he and Harry had just landed, _that_ was the last time he was being a FedEx intergalactic guy.

Harry looked from where he was checking over the craft as Jack ran across from the craft to where Teal'c was walking out of one of the debriefing rooms.

"Potter!" Jack shouted. Harry touched the radio link that both he and Jack were wearing.

"There is a radio Jack, you don't need to shout your guts out." Harry said, suppressing a sigh.

"_Yeah. We're going to see Carter."_

"Do you need me to accompany you?" He asked, he knew that Jack wanted to see Carter, but wasn't sure if he wanted more company.

"_If ya want, you know where, Teal'c and I'll swing round now. Okay?"_

"Yeah Jack I'll see you later." Harry said looking over at them, Teal'c gave him a look and then departed with Jack.

--/

_I have got to stop giving estimates of when next chapters are going to be ready, last time I said a week; __that__ didn't really turn out to be exactly right._

_Time and space sort of got in the way of me sitting down and working on this for any amount of time. Bits and pieces have been written here and there, most of the second half of this chapter has been written (around half an hour before I posted it). _

_I've stalled in recent weeks because I haven't been able to 'get into the character's heads' and write them in any good way, however I'm getting back into the swing of things again. Especially now that they're all back in one place, I think I was over stretching myself splitting everyone up for their own chapters, the ones that worked best; Harry and Jack and Sam and the Daleks, worked well because there were two of them, or in Sam's case a strong villain to bounce the story against._

_Thanks for reading and sorry about the wait. (I'll be starting on the next chapter within the week, but no guarantees about when it'll be finished)._


	18. Chapter 18

---

Disclaimer: All characters, names, settings etc belong to their respective copyright holders, only Night Wolf and a few other things are of my own creation (but inspired from many things under copyright, which aren't mine).

**Chapter 18 **

Samantha Carter couldn't believe what she was looking at, despite all the evidence, namely that she was indeed looking at a real thing.

She had three more days of 'off duty' where she couldn't go aboard _Prometheus_. Her leg, unbelievably had healed, and while she still had the cane it was for those occasional periods, a phantom pain she would still be feeling if it weren't for the accelerated healing she had been provided with. If they could have some of those 'potions' to take back with them, it probably wouldn't work as General O'Neill had said.

Different universal rules were at play in this universe, how else would she be watching a wooden rocket, being held down with straps to prevent its innate anti-gravity potential from lifting off the ground be a reality and not an alcohol and high fat content food induced binge dream.

Sam looked across from where she was seated at the control hub situated behind force-screens over to where Daniel was chatting to the archaeologist who was in charge of this whole operation. Doctor Hermione Granger, she was some friend of Harry's according to the General.

Jack leant back and smiled, it was good not to be around the base of operations on this planet, it had been his decision to come out here, plus he got to drive one of the cool 4x4s out here cause there hadn't been any ships around to give them the quick lift they needed out to the launch site. Carter looked less like her head was going to implode and more as though she wanted to run down there and pull the thing apart. She'd probably find exactly what they were looking at, a wooden rocked, blackened and charcoaled on the outside, supposedly giving it some…something, he'd tuned out for some of the longer technical explanation, Jack was just amazed that they were going to send people, living breathing people up into a rocked, made of some super-duper alien wood, powered by from what he could tell; smouldering sap, oh yeah and magic.

He'd received the latest reports concerning _Prometheus,_ most of the smaller things had arrived and were being fitted soon, today they would hopefully have sub-light back online, at least then they could take it for a spin around this galaxy, _like _that was going to be allowed. Hyperdrive…someone have him a report with Carter-speak all through it, it could have said that they needed to re-align the dilithium crystals for all the good it did him.

Teal'c looked, stoic, more so than usual, that could have been any number of things, but he seemed calm and curious.

Daniel marvelled that such a thing could exist, he had said so, Doctor Granger had just laughed.

"_That's what I thought when I went through this myself."_

"_You built a space-ship out of wood?" He'd asked._

"_No, my proof of archaeological concept was a little more research based, but no less exciting, these extra credit assignments are always exciting Doctor Jackson."_

The rocket, wasn't really the height of a conventional rocket at about 6 meters tall, nor did it really look like a rocket, considering it was constructed of wood. Though looking at it, even up close it didn't immediately suggest a wood construction, all the outside had been treated, or burned slightly to give a charcoal effect.

According to Doctor Granger it was constructed of a genetically similar, though far harder to control tree wood that was part of the construction of all of UNIT's ships.

That was something he couldn't believe, and it amazed him, ships, battleships, spaceships with wood, though considering in his universe there were ships that looked like Egyptian pyramids being flown by parasitic aliens masquerading as various gods who _weren't_ of Egyptian decent, he supposed that all universes were a little odd, it was just degrees of oddness.

Doctor Hermione Granger, Doctor of Archaeology amongst others looked over the 'rocket' before her. Her students had done well, better than well, brilliantly, an amazing though rather dangerous piece of construction.

It had taken months of work with UNIT and the UN for this to go ahead, multiple experts at UNIT had insisted on an unmanned run of the 'rocket' (which technically wasn't what it translated as, but it was what everyone called it, to get their head around what it did), but her students, in particular the two who would be flying in it of the six who had discovered enough information about the rocket to accurately recreate everything.

Now after what had seemed like an endless amount of paperwork they could do it.

Hermione touched her radio link, as a signal alerted her to an incoming transmission from the ship above them in a stationary orbit above the planet.

They would be standing ready to activate a their teleport to snatch her two students away from the craft in the event of an emergency, her students had also been through sorcery training, specifically emergency translocation, something that was usually considered _not_ something to be used in an emergency, additionally the orbiting craft could grab the whole 'rocket' with a transmat should the need arise. This and a multitude of other safety measures ensured that UNIT's concerns were quelled somewhat.

"This is Granger, how's it all going _Hattah_?"

"_And hello to you too Hermione."_ Hermione could tell he was grinning, not the captain of the ship, the SSC officer.

"Hello Harry." She said with a sigh as she motioned to Doctor Jackson and began to walk back over to the command tent where the rest of the students were setup behind the (UNIT requested) force screens.

"_We have full coverage your area ground to space, all matter transmission systems are locked on, we have a positive lock on Oliver and Jemma's teleport devices, transmats are ready. Space in our vicinity is clear." _He said seemingly pausing.

"_You are cleared to launch Doctor Granger_." Said the voice of the Australian Space Core Ship _Hattah's _captain Lt. Col Chris Rogers.

"Thank you captain." She said before looking around everyone with a smile, at the back of the tent were the team from SG1, Doctor Jackson had moved around to join them.

"We're ready to go." She said without preamble, even though everyone was working as well as they could it felt as though the pace increased, Oliver and Jemma came into the tent a moment later from where they had been waiting, meditating in another room.

According to their research meditation formed a large part of the mental preparation as the physical one, not just for the flight but should they need to exit mid-flight using a sorcery based escape they would need to be mentally prepared.

They were both wearing lightweight pressure suits originally designed as an emergency space suit they were light weight and could withstand a vacuum without being bulky.

"Doctor Granger, we are ready to depart." Hermione smiled to Oliver his Norwegian accent playing across the tent.

"Completely prepared, can't wait." Jemma met her smile and increased hers over into mad grinning the slight Russian girl had been overly determined to get this project into the sky, so to speak.

"Good, Lyle, Marique, Ty get out there final preparations on the straps." Hermione nodded to the last person who was in the tent as they moved out, each of them placing a jacket and mask on as they left the tent. "Keep an eye on the pressure levels when we get those two in Jane."

"Yes Doctor."

"Looks like they're ready to blast off." Jack said rubbing his hands. Carter and Daniel turned to look at him.

"What?"

"Jack did you listen to Doctor Granger when she explained what would happen?"

"Something about preferential gravity desires and wanting to be on the road instead of in the ground…" Jack looked between his former team mates, Carter was just shaking her head, Daniel looked annoyed. "No…?"

"No O'Neill that was not what Doctor Granger explained."

"Well…doesn't matter Carter I don't need an explanation, seeing after all is believing, and we can see now, soon." Jack poined over to where the people were getting into the wooden space ship that would soon fly, or repel itself away from the ground, or something special, with wacky magic stuff.

"Hmm looks like it's about to happen." Daniel said rising from where he was perched and walked over to where Doctor Granger was standing.

"Begin count down."

"Count down beginning." Hermione looked over at the countdown arrangement, an hourglass like structure that let carved wooden balls drop down onto a scales, that counted down the seconds, that weren't seconds, they were approximately 1 and a half seconds between drops. Thankfully or luckily the civilization that they had found the remains on had a similar enough gravitational field to the planet that they were on to make this experiment possible.

"Releasing control of restraints over to capsule." Lyle said as he grabbed a hold of a large leaver, pulling it down to the ground it made a satisfying clunk as all the safeties were released to the capsule.

Hermione looked at the countdown, Oliver and Jemma should be contacting them…

"_Preparing the release clamps on final order."_

"Received capsule. All sensors are go, all equipment recording, _Hattah_ is in full readiness." Marique said calmly though the excitement was present in her voice.

Then a moment later clamps around the capsule disengaged all at once with a clunk, and the capsule shot into the air, not with a roar or an explosion, but silently save for the air noise passing over it, and the sonic boom a moment later as it passed the sound barrier.

The capsule, was not a rocket in the conventional sense, according to the research conducted by the xeno-archaeologists it had been part of a civilzartion that had a similar sorcery elements to Earth. It had also achieved limited space travel, the habitable moon that orbited the planet also had evidence of the same civilisation.

On Earth it had been theoretically possible that a space craft could be constructed _solely _using sorcery means.

All the UNIT vessels had some elements of sorcery together with technological methods they provided the best and most efficient space going craft.

But a fully sorcery based craft was something else, it was only a theory, according to those historians and archaeologists on Earth none of the wand based 'wizarding' societies had ever made a play for space, though there were some documented attempts which might have been possible attempts, though these had more evidence of them being different designs for intercontinental travel rather than attempting to leave Earth. As for other elements of sorcery many had been influenced in their desire to leave Earth by visitations by aliens, but almost none of the evidence so far pointed towards sorcery based capsule or method for achieving escape velocity or an alternate method of leaving the Earth.

That was why the research and this test was important, it would impiraclly demonstrate that a completely sorcery based civilisation had made it into space.

"Capsule is reaching stratosphere."

"Pressure levels?"

"Still at optimum, we're reading the initial interaction beginning, they'll still need to reach the mesosphere to kick the reaction into full."

"Yes, I know…" Hermione said looking at the readings, this was the most dangerous area, at ground level the materials that made up the craft were reacting against being on the ground _it wanted_ to be in the air away from the ground, the further it got away from the ground the fast it flew, but going straight up it quickly became further and further from the ground and its inherrant repulsion from the ground lessened.

That was where the second stage of the capsule's design came in, the sap that pulsed throughout the exoskeleton of the craft reacted in the cold temperatures, which in turn set off spells and runes that had carefully been carved into its shell and weaved around it. Providing the extra lift, theoretically enough to get them to a moon. Not this planet's moon unfortunately, it wasn't as close as the civilisation that had created the craft's moon, plus UNIT had vetoed an attempt at landing the craft, Hermione had agreed, slowing down the craft into a controlled landing on a low gravity moon was dicey at best, the computer simulations were even less favourable.

"_Capsule to ground, checking in._" Jemma's voice came clear across the communications systems.

"Good to hear your voice, we have you on course awaiting reaction, can you confirm."

"_We confirm."_ Hermione was still amazed at the lack of noise, there was a background rush of wind but nothing else. Her two students within were calm, most likely thankful of the intense layering of inertia and absorption charms that had been pasted over the interior and their flight suits.

Jack shook his head in disbelief again, he was standing just behind Daniel and Carter who were standing watching agape at the progress of the craft.

It was unbelievable, if he hadn't seen the craft launch itself into the air with nothing except a sonic boom a few seconds after _he_ wouldn't have believed it.

Rockets were meant to be big, with big letters on the side and go up really fast, with cool count downs.

"Reaction in full progression, capsule continuing into thermosphere."

"Are you reading this _Hattah_?" Hermione said into her microphone.

"_Completely, we're standing by."_

--//

Lt Col Chris Rogers watched the live feed and tracking two of the three main screens on board his ship.

According to the data coming through from the sensor analysis teams the capsule had just increased its energy output doubling its rate of ascent under its 'passive' innate power.

The power amazing, slightly chilling considering the large fusion power plants his ship required, the large engines that propelled it through space and the various other engines that made travelling from system to system possible. Yet this small craft would manage to according to all projections break its hold on the planet's tight grip of gravity and fling itself towards the nearest moon.

Not that they would let them get that far, even given the moons that surrounding the planet Research Base One resided on it would still be carrying enough velocity to turn the individuals inside into a fine jam, despite all the charms in place that prevented them from being turned into a paste at the moment.

"Capsule is approaching edge of thermosphere." Harry said from behind him in a controlled, though excited tone. Everyone was a little excited by this practical archaeological test, it wasn't everyday you got to see a wooden spaceship take off and fly into space.

Though he did have all the Thylacine pilots standing by, half in their craft prepped and half in space just 'above' the capsule's projected flight path, they had retrieval craft standing by as well, _just in case_, just in case they couldn't grab them with the matter transmission systems, just in case something went wrong, just in case the wooden craft imploded under the vacuum and wideness that empty space opened up to everyone when you went out into the wide wilderness.

"Capsule is entering exosphere, reading full acceleration of capsule."

"Good, very good, how are they doing?" Hermione asked to one side.

"All vital signs stable."

Harry grinned to himself as he watched the sensor feeds come through, the craft had exited the exosphere and was in space, accelerating away from the planet.

"Contact the capsule let's make sure they're alright, ready on deck for retrieval of craft."

"Contact established." Said the communications officer.

"This is ASCS _Hattah _are you receiving?" There was a considerable pause of static.

"_Receiving Hattah, we're good, amazing in fact, I wish we'd put a large window on this, I can just see your lower hull. We are still at maximum acceleration, we'll need the nullifiers standing by."_

"Already prepped, we'll let you enjoy your zero-grav a little longer capsule." Lt Col Rogers said with a smile as he watched the tiny (compared to his ship) continue away from the planet.

"Captain, we're receiving an urgent message from the base."

"Punch it up." He said, refocusing some of his attentions towards the centre of the main screens. "Professor Wheatley, calling to congratulate Doctor Granger's team…" He said but trailed off as he saw the warnings on the screens behind her.

"_Prometheus__ is powering up, we're lost contact with everyone on board, I need General O'Neill and his team back here at once."_

"Yes ma'am." He said as the communication cut off. "Contact Granger, tell teleport control to bring them up and back down as quick as they can. Get the capsule in quick and as safe as possible, prepare to re-align orbit."

--//

Jack raised an eyebrow as Granger touched her radio by her ear.

"Colonel? Yes sir, right away." She was already moving grabbing the weird black things used to _teleport_ people. "Here." She said moving around to each of them.

"What's going on?"

"You're needed back at the base ASAP." Granger said as she activated her radio. "_Hattah _they're ready for teleport."

"Exactly what's going…" Jack O'Neill didn't get to finish his sentence as the world fizzed away and he was standing inside a ship. "On…oh."

"Excuse me could you tell us why we're…" Daniel didn't finish his sentence as the world again melted away into fuzziness and they were standing on solid Earth again, well not Earth perse, solid ground.

"Okay now I'm feeling less happy, what the hell is going on here?" Jack said more to himself than the two people manning the consoles in front of him.

"If you'll come to the command room." He motioned as they stepped away from the teleport area handing the black rock-things back to the people there.

"Uh oh." Samantha Carter said as she looked around. Red meant bad no matter what universe you were in.

"Indeed Col Carter." Professor Wheatley was standing in the middle talking to some people.

"What's happened Professor?" Jack asked as he turned around full circle.

"_Prometheus_'s main power systems just came online, drive systems are powering up."

"Oh." Jack said simple and looked to Carter.

"I didn't do it. We didn't have anything planned for today, just checking over the latest repairs that we received in the past week."

"That's what we thought. Just a moment." She turned away from them speaking to someone on the radio. "Full power to the quarantine shields." She said. "On the main screens."

Before them in the large room the screens changed from various warnings to show _Prometheus _from various perspectives, bubble formed around it glowing slightly blue as it did so.

"Have they explained what it's doing yet Justine?" Air Commodore Henderson asked as he walked in.

"They don't know." She said looking to them.

"If we can get in there we should be able to power everything down."

"Five the base defence squad just tried, stunned, those zat guns."

Jack looked to Daniel who looked at Jack. "You don't think…?"

"Well he does have a habit of sticking around."

"But come on? How many of that slime ball to we have to kill before he gets the message and stops coming back, he's like a cat who keeps leaving furballs everywhere."

"Sir…?"

"Receiving a message from _Prometheus_."

"Lets see it." Professor Justine Wheatley ordered.

"Crap."

"And hello to you General O'Neill, lovely to see you, again it seems."

"Why can't you just die and save us all a lot of trouble."

"Why O'Neill you have seen me die, what is that term, you can't have your cake and eat it too?" The man on the screen chuckled.

"Ba'al, what'd you want?"

"Allow me to leave or I will destroy your base."

Air Commodore pushed a button.

"Threat analysis." He said to an officer sitting to one side of him.

"Rail guns are powered, reading at least two missiles in tubes, the power systems are building up to full power."

"The quarantine shields will hold against those." Professor Wheatley said beside him. "Plus the concussive force would likely damage their own ship."

"Agreed." The Air Commodore said as he re-established the connection between themselves and Ba'al.

"No."

"No? General you do know what your ship is capable of, I will unleash its…remaining weapons unto this base."

"It's not my call Ba'al."

Ba'al eye flashed.

"Power down your drive systems and you will be treated fairly." Wheatley said, Ba'al said something out of frame and the connection was cut.

"Where do you think he could be going?" Wheatley addressed General O'Neill and the others around him.

"Well...we've killed a couple of his clones." Daniel started.

"Where the hell did this one come from Daniel?"

"Jack, why would I know?"

"I think we should consider what Ba'al is going to do, surely he's going to work out that he can't fire _Prometheus_' weapons." Sam said as she walked around Daniel and General O'Neill to one of the spare consoles, sitting herself down into the chair and studying the readouts.

"Oh no." Sam said as she watched the energy analysis emanating from _Prometheus_.

"Carter, please tell me he isn't going to blow it up."

"No sir."

"Reading energy field expanding outward from _Prometheus_, its their forcefield sir, ma'am he's interfacing with the quarantine force field."

One the main screens the forcefield from _Prometheus _and the forcefield surrounding it danced with energy and lightening as the two met.

"Aside from providing a fancy light show and proving his bark is as insubstantial as a rabbit's roar what does that do?" Daniel stared at Jack for a moment just wondering how to respond to the metaphor.

"Energy is building in out forcefield emitters, it'd hazard a guess that…" The officer was cut off by Professor Wheatley.

"He's using the connection between the two shields to analyse it."

"Exactly!" Carter exclaimed. "It might work, if Ba'al doesn't overload the shield emitters first, or the power distribution…we only just got that up and running at 100%."

"I'd like to know how that individual escaped out scans for the Goa'uld lifeforms." Air Commodore Henderson added looking at SG1 and General O'Neill.

Jack shrugged.

"I'm reading preliminary take-off systems powering up throughout _Prometheus_, I think he might attempt to ram the shields if this doesn't work." Carter said from where she was sitting.

"Just a question, can't we you know beam" Jack pointed at the ship. "Over and take the ship."

"He's flooded the area with an energy interference pattern, we only just got you down here in time."

"Oh. What about lettin' him go, and then taking him out…" Jack said carefully, he didn't really want to damage _Prometheus _especially considering how much time, money and whatever else they had already spent fixing it back up.

"We can't risk him turning _your_ weapons on our base. We also need to consider what he might do if he leaves here." Professor Wheatley answered.

"Or where he's going." Daniel mused.

"Whatever we're going to do we need to do it soon, I don't like the look of these energy readings." Carter said from where she was sitting.

Jack wondered how she'd been able to learn and use these guys computers and what not so quickly, though that was essential Carter-ness.

"Are Lt Wales and his team still on base?" Wheatley addressed Henderson.

"Yes. I'll get them in here."

"Good." She touched her microphone as he moved away from them. "Doctor Benoit, I need your experimental seeds down here. Yes I know, we're going to have a practical test." She looked at the screen. "Three target points. Good, prepare to brief a squad."

"They're on their way Professor."

"Good." She turned to General. "We're I'm sure you've gathered sending in a squad to remove the threat posed by Ba'al, they need hands on knowledge of your ship." She said without preamble, one eye on the energy readings coming off of the shield interactions.

Jack looked over at Carter, who was still staring at the energy readings, with her injured leg it counted her out.

"Danny, Teal'c show 'em how get rid of that smug ass snake, and make sure you get rid of him, if I never see another Ba'al…"

"We will O'Neill."

--//

Daniel eyed the energy field in front of him, he'd been warned not to touch it.

Supposedly the quarantine forcefield stretched right through the ground and right around the ship, making it impenetrable and completely safe.

Which posed the question exactly how they were going to get in, though the answer was relatively simple, he berated himself slightly that he didn't immediately think of it.

Which explained why they were standing waiting within a white circle that had been poured out by one of Lt Wales' squad.

"We ready Jeffries?" Lt Wales asked as the solider finished, he had stayed within the circle throughout the whole time that he edged out the circle.

"Ready sir."

"Then let's do this."

Daniel and Teal'c looked at each other and took out the thin packet offered by Lt Wales and opened it. During their 2 minute briefing they had been instructed what to do.

Inside the packet held what appeared to be a thick stick, Daniel knew what it was, more or less. Some of the scientists on the dig had told him of it, it was more or less a short range sorcery-induced transmat, except it was less pleasant, harder to control and one way.

Therefore, with all those elements perfect for the military.

The circle that they stood in would supposedly protect them in the short jump between where they were standing and the quarantine field. Daniel didn't want to ask what would have happened without the protection the circle provided though he suspected the answer would involve the words 'jam' and 'being turned into'.

A few seconds later, after Lt Wales and the others indicated them to begin reading or muttering, Daniel couldn't hear much they all seemed to be mouthing the words, he muttered them to himself. Daniel had originally thought that it was the speaking in conjunction with the stick that activated the 'magical' elements, but if one could just mouth the words it was something on a far more intrinsic level that everything operated on.

As Daniel was completing that thought, the stick he was holding disintegrated in his hand and he felt like he'd been compressed to a tiny slither of an idea and piped across the Atlantic Ocean.

Then as he was beginning to come to terms with that idea someone tapped him on the shoulder and he realised he had his eyes closed.

"It is finished Daniel Jackson." Daniel opened his eyes that he didn't realise he'd closed. He was standing in the shade, or rather he was standing out of the sun, below _Prometheus._

Lt Wales left the two _Stargate_ people to their recovery, your first pass-through was always the hardest, even the second wasn't that good. He directed his squad to the other two of the ship's landing legs as he moved to the forward one. Securing the ship from taking off was a priority, the target couldn't be allowed to get off the surface with active weapons. Though if the target managed to get into orbit the _Hattah_ would destroy it, lest the target escaped.

Harry Wales grabbed the stake shaped seed deliver system from a pocket and jammed it into the ground and ripped open the sachet of gel, according to Doctor Benoit that was all that was needed to...Lt Wales took a step back as thick vines sprouted out of the ground and wormed their way around the landing strut, they stopped short of the interior sections of the ship and then tensed, tight.

There would supposedly be roots that forced themselves down into the ground just short of the quarantine field that would hold the ship if it attempted to take off, in theory.

They'd only last for a couple of hours, but that was all they would need.

Daniel stumbled forward trying to shake off the dis-jointed feeling he had and to think they'd need to go through all that again in a few moments.

Looking up as he walked he looked for the section of deck plating that Sam had told him would definitely be an empty section of the ship, with an access gantry to the bridge.

"Lt Wales, there." He gestured above them, Wales was speaking into his radio.

"Ship secured to ground, moving to eliminate target." Lt Wales didn't wait for reply, in situations such as this communication was best encrypted and one way.

Daniel stood in the white circle again and gritted his teeth, determined to keep his eyes closed.

The experience the second time was no less disorientating, but he felt better having kept his eyes open through it.

"This way, those two lead to the bridge." Daniel motioned.

"I will secure the ship and find the remained of the crew." Teal'c said nodding towards the other hatch.

"Jeffries, go with him, Jackson you're coming with us." Daniel nodded, almost with a sigh to the Lt.

--//

Jack looked over at Carter, who was chewing her lip in concentration as she did her computer stuff.

"Carter, what's the matter you look like Ba'al's soiling all the towels on board _Prometheus_. He's not right?"

"Uh…no. Commodore, I think I'm registering a build up in our ship's sub-space transmitters."

"Who's he calling ET ain't got no home to call for." Jack commented as the Commodore swore.

"_Hattah_, you are authorised to re-orientate for planetary weapons use, prepare to disable of destroy _Prometheus_'s communications systems."

"Crap, didn't we just fix those? Nice one Carter."

"Sorry sir, but if Ba'al is contacting anyone it can't be good."

--//

Lt Harry Wales moved through the corridors of the ship carefully. He'd already needed to stun half a dozen people, they appeared to under some form of hypnotic control, something that could be sorted out later when the threat was eliminated.

"_Base to Wales, imperative engage and eliminate target._" Lt Wales frowned for a moment after the scratchy message that had obviously been blasted across all frequencies came through. This was a message to use all possible force to remove the targe, that the message was sent meant that they had _absolutely_ not time to do this in a subtle manner.

Jackson was still punching in the code to another door, it seemed all the bulkheads in the ship and been sealed shut.

"Time to make a hole, we're out of time." Wales said to the remainder of his team who removed their bags and quickly grabbed the focused elimination devices. "Psionic projectors there and there. Jackson this leads straight to the bridge?" Wales asked quickly.

"Yes, through half a dozen more doors. I should be able to get unlocked in a second."

"We don't have a second." If Wales was right they were heading toward an end game scenario, probably to protect the security of the base, which would ultimately mean the destruction of the threat.

"Disintegrators in standard pattern, maximum yield on both, we don't want any problems."

Dialling up the psionic projectors; a device used to relatively harmlessly take down forces in a certain path were reverse engineered alien technology with a sorcery addition to give it range and intensity, when the power was dialled up to full it would give headaches, migraines and depending on the psychic potential in a subject burst blood vessels, cause blindness (permanent or otherwise) and on rare occasions death.

--//

"Colonel Carter what are you reading on that energy build up?" Air Commodore Henderson almost barked at her.

"Sill building, I'm not sure if it's a constant stream or if it's building for an energy burst."

"Can't we you know just jam it? Instead of blasting holes in the ship we've been spending ages fixing?"

"We did so immediately as the quarantine field was initiated General." Professor Wheatley said not looking away from what she was doing.

"We can't wait any longer for Lt Wales' squad, _Hattah_ is clear to fire on the ship, force screens have been set up around the ship." Wheatley said as she looked up from where she was working.

--//

"_Hattah, authorisation to fire at surface of UNIT occupied planet, destroy vessel; __Prometheus__ communication systems._"

"SSC officer witness authorisation." Col Chris Rogers said calmly.

"Authorisation witnessed and confirmed." Captain Harry Potter responded, tapping a button confirming the confirmation was logged and recorded. Firing on an occupied planet with a UNIT base (and in most cases an outpost) needed some form of authorisation, it could be overridden of course, but…orders higher up and all that.

"Weapons, locked on?"

"Main weapons on cutting beams, we should be able to slice through, after we get through the two shields." Said the weapons officer.

"Battle analysis projects we'll need at least five blasts the puncture both _Prometheus' _shield and the quarantine field."

Rogers nodded. "Begin firing."

The Australian Space Core Ship _Hattah_'s two main weapons burst into life, barrelling through the emptiness of space as two intense beams of energy, through the atmosphere and hit with intensity into two shields, making roads to cutting through them for their targets.

--//

The ship rocked as Wales kicked a way through the now brittle bulkhead doors as he checked his weapon again. Obviously they had run out of time and were now on borrowed time. One more door to go.

That was when a yellow-red blast on energy came through the last door.

Lt Wales was already moving before he even registered what it was and what was happening. Looking around quickly he saw that his squad had moved out of the was as had Dr Jackson.

"Stealth." Was the only word he said as he crushed one of the packages built into his vest and he and his team shimmered out of visible existence. Jackson didn't have any such provision built into his vest, but was falling into line behind them, despite not being able to see them.

Wales went up to the threshold of the door as the ship was rocketed by another blast.

Looking around there were around five officers armed with long staff shaped weapons, the target was by one of the consoles operating it.

Wales made a motion to his squad and began to move around, firing off kill blasts at his target as his squad stunned the others.

The target took three blasts and was still moving attempting to go for a sidearm.

Wales rushed across the small bridge drawing his knife slicing down at a diagonal neatly decapitating the target.

Crushing a second pocket he reappeared, visible to Jackson, the others of his squad followed suit.

"Quarantine that." He motioned as the body. "Jackson can you patch in external communications?"

--//

"Target eliminated, sir."

"Good job Wales, secure the ship, contact _Hattah_."

"Well that worked out alright." Jack smiled as he stuffed his hands into his pockets, leaning back against a chair.

"Hattah, authorisation to descend to low orbit, full intensity sensors and scanners scan Prometheus down to the deck plates complete analysis." Air Commodore Henderson was ordering into his microphone.

Jack pushed himself off the chair. "Hey we had an agreement! No snooping."

"You broke that agreement General O'Neill by allowing our base to come under threat because of your provision for secrecy, you guaranteed that you had scanned your ship for any hostiles, now we are taking our own measure." Professor Wheatley turned and stood from where she was working and met O'Neill's gaze.

"Escort General O'Neill and Lt Col Carter out of the command area." Air Commodore Henderson said to the two soldiers by the entrance.

"Hey, no rush, we know where the door is." Jack said as he waited as Carter grabbed her cane, pushing herself out of the chair.

--//

Jack found himself and Carter not just escorted outside the _room_ but outside of the entire building.

"Sorry sir."

"Carter as soon as they let down their force quaratinue field thingy I wanna know how that bastard of snake managed to survive death, again and we need to make sure there aren't any more copies of him around. He's like that copy machine on level 22."

--//

Jack sat at the table and wished he had some papers to shuffle. He looked across the table where Carter was sitting _with_ a folder full of papers, and a tablet computer from _Prometheus_, both of which she'd carried and sat down with them as they waited for the meeting to start.

He started to tap his fingers on the table, it didn't make the same noise as when he tapped his fingers on the table in the SGC, this had a different tone.

They'd sat them all at one end of the table, across on the other side from him Daniel was seated, he caught Jack's eye and raised a slight eyebrow. Jack stopped tapping his fingers on the table, Daniel seemed to relax a little bit more.

Samantha Carter resisted the urge to shuffle the papers in the folder in front of her. Those and the tablet held the result of her investigation into precisely how Ba'al had managed to survive _again_, General O'Neill was right they had screwed up. But to be perfectly fair she hadn't even known the rings could do what they'd done. It was certainly a flaw that she would be fixing for the _Daedalus_.

_One day ago…_

Sitting around the meeting room table Jack couldn't help but notice the large tank shaped object which Daniel had surmised probably was a tank, that was still poiting at _Prometheus_ and it wasn't the only weapon that was currently pointing in their direction, despite the UNIT people thoroughly scanning all over _Prometheus_, any deeper and they'd have needed a ship sized endoscope. Jack shuddered at the thought and refocused on Carter.

"…most of the bulk heads that were destroyed in the incursion were of vital structural stability and we should be able to replace those that were with others around the ship."

"So Carter tell us what we've been waiting for."

"How did Ba'al gain entry to _Prometheus_?"

"That's my line Teal'c!" Jack exclaimed lightly. Teal'c just looked at him, Jack could almost see Carter sigh.

"That's not the only problem we've found Jack."

"Danny, no news is good news. I want some good news."

"We're not dead yet Jack and Ba'al is."

"There see I knew you could do it, I feel much better now, go ahead Carter depress us with the bad news that Ba'al from beyond the grave has thoroughly fragged us all to the smeg."

Daniel and Teal'c raised an eyebrow in his direction. "What???"

"I've been back through all our systems since we entered this universe, it looks like near the end of our battle with Ba'al he used the rings on board one of his ships." Carter hit a button showing a large pyramid sized ship and a smaller Hat'ak craft "Then he transferred himself from his main craft to a Hat'ak which modulated the matter stream and sent it into the seconardy buffer of the rings systems, which subsequently went offline."

"Buffer…buffer. Like when Teal'c got stuck in the gate and we had to use the Russians DHD to get him out."

"Yes O'Neill. Though I have never heard of the rings systems being able to accomplish such storage."

"I don't think they were ever made to be able to store matter for any amount of time." She paused clicking to another image of what looked like blood analysis. "From the…remains on the bridge I ran it through the medical equipment on board it shows relative cell degradation."

Jack nodded, it had taken a while to get the blood stain scrubbed off the floor of the bridge, even in death Ba'al was a pain in the ass. The body had been taken away by the UNIT people, seemingly they didn't trust them to hold onto his body. "So was he on the road to potentially painful and quick death?"

"Maybe sir, degradation could have been rectified by a sarcophagus. I think he might have been copied using the rings."

"So he was a copy, of a copy." Jack shook his head and then smiled. "I was right, copy machine!" He slumped back into the chair when none of them not even Teal'c said anything. "What's the other really bad news that Danny boy wants to throw at us."

Daniel slumped slightly.

"I went back through our communication logs and the differential energy output of the ship since we arrived in this universe and this wasn't the first time Ba'al been sending communications out."

"Crap, they're not going to like that, in fact Daniel I know they're going to be pissed off about that. Danny, don't tell me that he's been receiving communications, because I know _I'd_ be really pissed off if my guests had been telling the locals where I kept a base of operations."

"Ummm."

"Dammit Daniel."

"I don't think so, well that is, it looks like the signals weren't sent here, but were bounced into hyperspace and then whenever a ship entered hyperspace around here Ba'al picked it up."

Jack clicked his fingers in understanding. "Like those subspace bursts we use."

"Probably sir. But it still stands as a fact that" Jack cut her off.

"Ba'al was chatting to someone and it's a bet he wasn't swapping soup recipes."

_Present + 20 minutes of explanations._

Jack could tell they weren't happy.

In fact they weren't even amused.

He wondered if there was any cake to join the coffee and tea on the table, cake would solve many problems. Probably not this one though.

"We surmised this, we've already begun decrypting the last few messages we found in our ancillary monitoring systems, it wasn't something that usually alerts us, but we'll have the results within the day."

Jack sat up a little, he hadn't been expecting that response, they'd been pretty annoyed when they'd last been face to face, when they'd been firing their huge space guns on their big ships at his ship.

--//

Professor Justine Wheatley sat outside her office enjoying the breeze that was washing through the base, allowing it to distract her from the report in front of her.

It was almost working, except self delusion wasn't one of her strong points.

"Justine."

"Ian, have a seat." She motioned the other chair. "Drink?" He nodded, she poured two glasses of water, that had some native leaves floating in it, it gave the water a minty-orange flavour.

"You've read the decryption of the communications." He said, it wasn't a question.

They hadn't told the _Prometheus _people the whole truth, even if they knew everything they wouldn't have been able to do anything, but she'd still given Dr Jackson the last few, just not _all_ of the messages they had.

"Yes, what's our status?"

"_Hattah_ will remain in orbit for tactical support. RSCS _Audacious_ is making doing a covert sweep on its way back to Earth, when we get the information back we'll inform the Stargate people." He looked over at her.

"You think they'll agree?"

"They got us into this." He said taking sip of the cool water.

"Now we need to see if they're willing to put themselves and their ship on the line to get out of it." She tapped the computer idly.

The analysis revealed that Ba'al had been in communication with the Daleks…

--//

_Author Notes:_

_Hello._

_Long chapter and quite a time between this and the previous, other things got in the way, got a new computer and then I got distracted with an idea and started writing another fic._

_The whole first bit of this chapter with the wooden spaceship I had in mind very early on, (just the whole idea I liked), but I wasn't sure where to place it until now. So it goes on probably a little longer than it really needed to, but I like it._

_I know I've probably over-used the clone-Ba'al somewhat, but I hope that it's a different way then just another clone. (He didn't stick around for long at least)_

_Thanks for reading, Hopefully next chapter soon (I keep saying this) but next chapter soon, before January at least. _


	19. Chapter 19

--

**Chapter 19**

Jack leaned back into the chair, it was good to be back in the saddle, so to speak. Back on the open road.

Too bad the open road was going to lead to fighting and battle damage.

Damage they'd just got finished fixing.

He squinted out the window, hoping to see something of their destination, but he couldn't, according to Carter they wouldn't for some time yet, since they were operating at minimal power, cruising in on their target.

A slight rumble passed across the ship, Jack looked over at Carter who mumbled to herself.

"Just re-aligning our trajectory sir." He nodded, they'd had to do that a dozen times now; for their backup.

--//

Harry stared at the relay from the passive sensors as he ship rumbled again as the passive manoeuvring systems engaged nudging them back into the wake of _Prometheus_.

It was not a manoeuvre he was fond of, his commander felt the same. They were operating in a 'black out', all systems that might show up on any sensors, anything that might make the ship light up on watchful eyes, or eye in the Dalek's case was powered down. Their engines were disengaged and powered down, main power plant for the ship was at minimal (if that). All active sensors, anything that might give them a hint of warning was without power.

They were following the _Prometheus _obeying Newton's first law of motion, carrying the significant speed they had accumulated prior to their entry into this system.

That hadn't really been the most gut wrenching time, that had been when the _Prometheus_ had left its hyper space window _meters_ in front of them, in a manoeuvre that he did not want to repeat any time soon, especially considering they wouldn't have been about to stop or even move enough to avoid kissing the ass cheeks of the other ship.

Harry stared at the passive sensors, the sensor analysis teams were looking at the same images, their analysis tools and other things they might usually have available were currently offline to preserve their practically zero sensor image on the enemies scans, that was the plan anyway.

--//

_Flashback_

"So you had more information than you told us." Jack said his arms crossed looking across the table at them.

Professor Wheatley didn't respond to his statement. "We have analysed the full details of Ba'al's communications with the Daleks, they are expecting a visit from him, using your ship. It is indicated that he was going to exchange information."

"So you want us to fly our ship, our ship that we just got done fixing into the Dalek's hands."

"Plungers, no hands Jack." Daniel added quietly from his side. Jack spared him a brief look.

"Your ship and your inability to conduct a proficient search of your equipment is what has got us into this in the first place General." Air Commodore Henderson said looking between them.

"Hey, we already said we were sorry about that little…mistake."

"General." Professor Wheatley said calmly stopping Jack from saying anything more. "Our base here is now directly threatened because of actions relating to your ship, your fault or not. We know the Daleks, if Ba'al promised them technology or information they will come looking, and despite Ba'al communications tricks and relays the Daleks will come looking, if we don't turn up with something." She began in a reasonable tone.

"So you want our ship as bait? Can't a couple of your ships go in with your big guns?"

"The RSCS _Audacious _did make a preliminary scan of the system, analysis of the Daleks' base makes an assault with multiple ships unfeasible." The Air Commodore pushed a few buttons on the keyboard in front of him, a series of images appeared on the large screen at the end of the room. It showed an image of another binary star system, but with the suns on elliptical paths, unlike what Sam Carter had seen on her prior encounter with the Daleks.

"The Daleks have based a set of three ships around the innermost planets orbiting the white dwarf star. There is an unidentifiable station set within the centre of the two stars. These scans identified a considerable Dalek force, however our analysis of the red dwarf star suggests that it's inner most planet gives off a particular radiation, making it difficult for the Daleks to operate at peak efficiency outside of their saucers."

"Great so we just have to face off three ships of the suckers, on our own." Jack looked across the table.

"The ASCS _Hattah_ has been cleared to accompany you covertly."

"And I've gotta pretend to be Ba'al."

"The Daleks do not know what he looks like General. But your debrief following the Venice incident suggests that you have the requisite knowledge to replicate his personality if they communicate." Wheatley paused. "General. I know you have just finished repairing your ship, but if the Daleks find out about our base, it could result in devastating effects to our base and other outposts."

--//

Jack looked out the tinted window, tinted he didn't know, Carter was probably doing something special to the shields at the two suns some way ahead of them.

He didn't really have any choice in this matter. It was either fly _Prometheus_ his ship and face the Daleks or sit and wait on a landing pad for the Daleks to come.

It was _his_ ship, for now at least, several of the crew were still recovering from Ba'al's 'influences', including Colonel Pendergast. Well they said Ba'al's influences, but it could have been the whatever the strike team with that Wales guys had used to take down everyone on their way to the bridge. Jack slumped slightly into the chair, _he knew_ that this had been a bad idea from the outset, from now on there would be no more mucking around with Ancient technology unless they knew it wasn't going to have dire consequences to them.

_Dire_? He had been hanging around Daniel too long. _Bad_, Bad consequences.

Jack allowed himself to relax slightly, after the manoeuvre that they had pulled off a few hours ago. He was really glad it was Carter in the pilot's seat, while the UNIT people might have been pissed at them they must have had some faith in their piloting skills, or Carter's considering it all could have gone very wrong and left them with a ship sized hole in the back of _Prometheus_, something he doubted a little paint could have smoothed over.

Now aside from the turbulence from the _Hattah_ ghosting them in their wake they were on their way.

To meet the Daleks.

Jack was ambivalent about encountering the Daleks for himself, especially after what Carter had been through at their han…plungers.

--//

Harry resisted the urge to squint at the feed from the passive sensors, there looked like a…there it was again.

"Oh crap. Sir."

"Harry? Anxious tone of voice, we're here I trust."

"Yes sir."

"Hopefully General O'Neill and his crew have also seen them." Colonel Rogers paused as the forward screens flared into their lowest power setting showing what Harry and the others were seeing, it wasn't much. If they had full sensor operation they would highlighted and analysed the various Daleks in the system within reach.

But given their covert approach they couldn't.

"As long as the Daleks don't make them stop we will continue to as we are. Are all areas ready?"

"Ready since the _Prometheus _jumped in."

"Good, make sure everyone is ready _in case_ the Daleks take a sudden interest in us."

"Sir." Harry answered.

--//

"Sir…"

Jack had already realised something wrong given the incessant beeping and other tonal warnings that were coming from the various bits of equipment around them.

"We've got company Jack."

"Great." Jack pushed himself out of the captain's chair.

"How man of the suckers."

"Several _Daleks _approaching O'Neill." Jack looked from Teal'c to the main screens that showed zoomed in images of the Daleks flying on some mini-saucer like thing approaching them.

"They seen the _Hattah _yet Carter?"

"No sir, but I am registering power fluctuations around the Daleks."

"Weapons?"

"Either targeting us or scanning us, I'm not sure." Carter said as she checked over the various instruments.

"We're getting a signal Jack, across all our communications bands."

"Showtime." He said as he thrust his hands into his pockets and then decided against it. "Inflated ego, over confident and annoying, lets get on with this. Put em on Danny."

Jack stared at the static on the screen and shoved his hands into his pockets again. He had considered changing into something more dramatic, something Ba'al might have worn, but according to Potter and the other UNIT people he doubted that the Daleks would appreciate it.

"_I am the Black Dalek. You are the one known as Ba'al."_ Jack nodded, the Dalek wasn't really black, well it was, but it also had white bits to it, he was kinda sure that it was staring at him. Not it had eyes, an eye piece.

"I am, this is what was arranged, I am here."

"_Yes."_ It seemed to almost drawl out the word. _"Scans of your vessel conclude you have humans on board."_

Jack resisted the urge to look to the side.

"They are my subjects, they will be also useful in our plans." Jack hoped that was a vague enough statement for whatever Ba'al and the Daleks had planned. They knew they had plans, just what exactly were the said plans they couldn't uncover.

"_Subjects are meaningless forms of gratification, they will be removed from the craft and processed."_

"How does our plan progress 'Black' Dalek?" Jack hoped he'd injected enough superiority into the sentence, the Dalek, seemed to have more than an air of superiority to everything it said. Though that was the standard form for all Daleks so it probably just wasn't this black one.

"_Preparations are continuing, once our scientists have access to the technology on your craft we shall fulfill our plans and conquer your galaxy, crush the lesser races, conquer and destroy all who oppose the will of the Daleks!"_ The Dalek seemed to pause, or take a breath.

"Right…and my role in your conquering?"

"_Our agreement stands, you shall be in control over your domains. Dalek hoverbouts will escort your craft to a docking port on our ships."_

"Right. Good." Jack said as the communications link was broken. Jack turned around to look at the Carter, Daniel and Teal'c. "That seemed to go well."

"Aside from the taking over our galaxy part you mean Jack?"

"Always the negative Daniel, we know what they're doing."

"I don't think the UNIT people will see it that way sir." Carter said and then added. "The Daleks are forming up on our port and starboard sides, we're receiving directions."

"Lets not keep our new masters happy then. Have they seen our tail?"

"I do not believe so, they are merely forming up on both sides of the ship O'Neill, though many are close to the rail gun points and shield emitters."

"Crap. Maybe they won't suspect anything."

--//

The Black Dalek turned away from the monitor screen, it had been bred like all other Daleks, though unlike other Daleks it had more experiences both implanted and real experiences. It had a higher intelligence quotient, more ability to be flexible with its reality interaction. A greater ability to understand its enemies.

The communications and initial contact from the being that made itself known as 'Ba'al', a human name according to their database for a deity, though it had informed them that it was not human.

Parasitic entities could not be trusted, no species could be trusted. But parasites threatened the purity of the Dalek race.

However it's proposal was an interesting one, one that could be exploited for their needs, time travel and inter-dimensional travel were two areas in which were in constant development to further the Dalek empire.

The recent communication with the being that claimed to be Ba'al raised the Black Dalek's suspicions, even further.

"Compare textual communications and initial communications with Ba'al individual to recent communication with being on the human's vessel."

"I obey!"

The Black Dalek watched the data from their manipulations of the innermost planet, it was currently producing a specific form of radiation which would react and begin the first stages of creating a substance similar to taranium and a temporal catalyst.

"Analyses of speech and textual patterns suggests a 10 percent correlation."

If the Black Dalek could have been smug, it would have been a this moment, instead it sent the order to the Daleks escorting the ship; _Prometheus_ to begin attacking the craft to disable it, the brains of the humans could be extracted later, as could the technology aboard.

--//

Harry felt the manoeuvring systems kick in pushing the ship into a backward summersault almost immediately as the battle alert sounded. The former, rather than the latter slammed him into his chair, making him glad he had tightened the straps holding him in the zero-gravity environment that they had without the gravity field in operation.

"Battlespace?" Colonel Rogers demanded as ship was rocketed with Dalek weapons fire, they were according to battle analysis 'practically' out of range of their weapons fire.

Harry breathed a slight sigh of relief as the countdown he'd been watching clicked to zero signaling they had switched from backup power cells to full onboard power generation. The switchover had been necessary to move from generators at undetectable levels to full power.

"Up now sir." The left of the three screens at the front of the bridge switched to a display of the battlespace around them.

_Prometheus _was under heavy assault from the Daleks, their shielding taking the brunt of the Daleks' energy weapons.

A part of the screen flashed red.

"Missiles launched from Dalek's base of operations."

"Stand-by interceptors. Targets?"

"_Prometheus_, us and intermediate target, to take out both ships in manouvering."

"Start us moving towards _Prometheus, _battle strategy begin targeting solutions for the Daleks ships and other operations." Rogers said as he studied his own readout beside him.

"Destroy or capture?"

"Orders are to totally destroy, can't risk the Daleks getting away with knowledge of Base One."

--//

Jack winced as another warning alarm went off and _Prometheus _ shuddered again under the weapons fire.

"Carter you still got controls?"

"Yes sir…?"

"Get us closer, maybe we can dock or something, get the Daleks tech that they were using?" Jack said looking over at Teal'c "How's it going buddy?"

"The Daleks are extremely maneuverable O'Neill, I am having limited success."

"I can't get through to the _Hattah_ Jack, we're being jammed, I think." Soemthing exploded behind them.

"That was short range communications." Carter said. Jack felt a rush of power through the ship as they accelerated forward, the ship shuddered again, he was sure they hit something along the way, either debris or something not moving fast enough.

"I don't think we're going to be able to dock Jack." Daniel said motioning towards the structure of the three saucers.

Jack swore, why couldn't they have laid out an easy to dock area, instead of saucers, he didn't think they were _literally_ saucers, he'd thought that was a euphamism for 'space ships'.

--//

"Where are they going?"

"They've lost external communications sir. They appear to be heading toward the Dalek facility." Harry announced as he watched the data from the second destruction of the missiles the Daleks had launched at them, there was still one missile active heading toward _Prometheus_, heading even quicker considering that they were flying _towards _the direction the missile had been launched from.

"Continue on course, off set our heading from their estimate I don't want us to be on the same line of fire as them."

--//

"Teal'c can you see the…" Sam was looking out of the corner of her eye at the sensor readings that showed a missile shaped object of mass traveling toward them at relatively high speed, relatively in as much that they were traveling toward it also.

"I do indeed Col Carter, attempting to retarget."

"Sir?"

"Yes Carter?"

"I think I should redirect power from our non-essential systems to shields."

"Do it Carter, the last thing I want is to be getting intimate with space."

--//

Harry cringed as he saw the last missile explode on or within a kiss of the _Prometheus' _shields before redirecting his attention to what the sensor analysis people were telling him.

"We're reading large power build up on the Dalek's ships and unidentified station on the inner planet."

"How high Potter?"

"Off the scale sir, they appear to be feeding in power practically direct from the star."

"Push our engines, ready main weapons to blasters, whatever the unidentified station is. Cannon fire to three Daleks ships." Rogers paused. "Use interceptors to take care of any remaining Daleks."

As _Hattah_ reached optimum firing distance its forward weapons, a mix of sorcery and technology based energy weapons roared through space, blasting into energy fields around the station. Pausing for moments allowing the variety of charms and specialized systems to cool them before blasting again.

In the time that it took the Daleks to register the attack on their station and its destruction they had already initiated secondary systems to bring their plans to fruition.

--//

"_Exterminate!"_ Daniel was already throwing himself out of the way as the hastily repaired doors to the bridge were blasted open by a Dalek. Daniel grappled for the zat on his thigh as Sam ducked a blast of high intensity energy that seemed to crackle in the air as it slammed into the wall behind him.

Daniel crouched around and fired 2 bolts of energy from the zat toward the Dalek with seemingly no impact, a third again did nothing.

Daniel swore in a dead language that no one save another linguist would have understood and appreciated its use once again in modern society.

As he was considering his next move he heard the familiar thwump of a staff rifle as it impacted 4 times against the Dalek, shattering it and sending a putrid smell of organic sentience wafting around the bridge mixing with the various overloaded systems.

"Reading several Dalek life signs on the ship, I think they're attempting to interface with our computers."

"Lock them out Carter. Teal'c" Jack threw a second staff rifle to the former Jaffa. "Danny man what weapons we've got left."

"Sir" Carter shouted over her shoulder as Jack and Teal'c started off the bridge. "I'm locking all the bulkhead doors halfway down, it should slow the the Daleks down."

"Great thinking Carter."

--//

Harry shook his head in dismay, they'd warned Jack not to take the _Prometheus _too close to the Daleks, that there was a high chance despite the intense radiation that the Daleks could initiate a transmat to their ship. It must have taken a large amount of power, and probably fried the Daleks a little bit. But they'd strayed into that area where it was possible.

There was nothing the _Hattah _ or their crew could do to help them, that same radiation would kill anyone who attempted any matter transmission over to their ship.

There was also the issue that the _Hattah_ was currently under attack, the Daleks seemed none too happy that they'd destroyed their station.

"Redirect all fire to the Daleks ships. I want battle analysis to keep tags on all hoverbouts, I don't want any sneaking off or escaping, we need to totally eliminate the Dalek force."

"Sir, what about _Prometheus_, they're on the edges of the projected blast radius."

"They've lost all communications?" Rogers asked, not taking his eyes off the battlespace and the various other data that was flowing onto the three main screens at the forefront of the bridge.

"No sir."

Rogers thought for the briefest of moments. "Get one of person from battle strategy to think up a method of getting a message, no more than 2 minutes then back to our main work, if not they should be able to work it out for themselves."

Harry nodded relaying the Colonel's instructions, he at the moment couldn't think of a method of getting a message over, but he did have over a dozen things on his mind. Though considering _Prometheus_ was currently overrun with what appeared to be an assault platoon of Daleks on board _Prometheus _he imagined they also had their hands full. Or they were dead.

Though he doubted Jack would take the plunger of death very easily.

--//

Jack winced, _that_ was going to leave a mark as they ran and ducked under another bulkhead door. The green slime from the dead Dalek was oozing all over the floor, it looked like it might stain also. He was never going to be aloud to take _Prometheus_ out for a spin. From now on he'd just take the F-302s out. Simple, easy, no chance of dimension jumping.

"Carter, how's the information gathering?" He restrained himself from yelling into the microphone, the thundering on the ship's shield had lessened somewhat down to a mild thunderstorm of attacks.

"_Uh, Sam's a little busy at the moment Jack. She thinks she's into the Dalek's systems but the translation's going slowly."_

"Carter, just grab everything, work it out later, that's an order."

"_Yes sir, but it's not as simple as…"_ She was cut off.

"Carter, I get the feeling that considering we're not being attack as much someone else must be doing the attacking. Considering who we're fighting I doubt they won't be going in for the soft-" Jack looked around the corner and fired at the same time as Teal'c, something they had discovered decreased the amount of shots needed to take out a Dalek. "-touch. Get on with it Carter."

"_Sir._"

_­_--//

Daniel looked over at the captain's chair, where a large piece of paper had materialised while he'd been speaking to Jack.

We are destroying Dalek ships, _Prometheus_ is on edge of blast radius.

It was a short and succinct message and considering the roughness of the writing had been written with some haste.

--//

Harry blinked, someone had taken down the transmat jammers for about 3 seconds and then put them back up, someone from battle strategy. A message to them confirmed that it was to send a message to _Prometheus_.

Harry made a note to have a chat to them about the strategy involved in opening the ship up to transmat infiltration by the Daleks during an attack. Despite the fact that they had sent the message within the Colonel's time limit.

Harry pushed several buttons closing bulkheads around the outer areas of the ship that were in danger of being exposed to vacuum if the current assault by the Daleks continued.

The ship's energy cannons were still primarily firing at the two remaining Dalek ships, with only those closest to the stern of the ship firing at any Dalek hoverbouts that came into firing range.

The ASCS _Hattah_ shuddered as the second Dalek craft exploded, unlike the first which hadn't affected them or _Prometheus_ as it had practically vaporised, this craft must have been far more dense.

_Hattah_ bucked forwards on a diagonal port direction, rocking from side to side as those in control of _Hattah's_ weapons attempted to continue firing whilst those in control of its movement tried to prevent the larger pieces of the Dalek's ship impact on their force fields, the power for them already divered to weapons and other systems.

Harry didn't have time or attention to spare to consider what this latest explosion was having on _Prometheus_, if they had heeded their warnings they'd taken measures, if they had their eyes open equally they should have noticed.

--//

Jack wondered if he had a concussion, he'd certainly felt this way before, and there was a ringing in his ears. Though he was relatively sure that was an alert of some kind. Though both (his maybe concussion and the alarm) were giving the same vibe as the after affects of a flash-bang.

Jack opened his eyes that he hadn't realised he had shut, he was trapped between a dead (hopefully) Dalek and a wall, he couldn't see where Teal'c was.

"You-will-be-exter-minated." The Dalek, which had a large hole blown in its side croaked at him.

Jack looked around for the staff weapon, it was on one side of the corridor, just out of reach.

Jack tensed, but the blast didn't come. Then he decided to push against the Dalek, but there was some force holding it in place.

"You-will…-You-will-not move. You-are-my-pris-on-er."

"Yeah, right, first ya wanna kill me, now we're going to be friends." Then the whole ship slammed sideways and the Dalek went sliding down the corridor, Jack followed as the section of corridor lost gravity. Jack wondered in the second or two as he flailed around trying to get a grip if his shoulder was just bruised, dislocated or his arm broken.

Just before he could slam into the section of wall the Dalek had impacted he realised it was only dislocated, the fact made all the more clear because Teal'c reached out and grabbed him.

"Thanks." Was about all Jack managed to say as he braced himself against the wall and the zero-gravity.

"Carter, that's it, get us out of here!"

"Communications throughout the ship appear to be down O'Neill." Jack swore a string of words that a might have interested a lexicographer given the verbose range managed in such a tense situation.

Daniel looked down at the fire extinguisher that was now empty, he'd exausted all of them on board the bridge. Which weren't the least of their worries, what damage he could ascertain indicated that they should leave now.

"Sam…"

"I know Daniel, I know, I just need…"

Daniel was moving as he'd said 'Sam', there was, according to what sensors were working a massive build up of energy beginning to build.

Jack didn't have time to do anything he and Teal'c were shoved into the side of the ship, it felt like the ship had done a U-Turn at high speed and was now speeding up, by the sound of the engines.

"Daniel!" Sam exclaimed as she lost the connection with the annoyingly heavily protected Dalek computers.

"I just saved us Sam." Daniel said without looking away from the controls he was at.

Then the third Dalek ship that was controlling most of the energy flow around it exploded, shoving _Prometheus _forwards on its current flight path.

--//

Harry eyed the sensors _Hattah _flew away, whilst still firing on the overloaded Dalek ship, _Prometheus _had finally got the hint to turn around, and while some distance behind them, was more or less clear of immediate danger.

--//

Daniel stuck a marker on the 5th Dalek so far. They'd been stuck in orbit of a planet two systems away from the UNIT's Research Base One. They had refused to allow them to land until they had identified and tagged all the Daleks onboard the ship, there was still some residual radiation preventing a detailed scan, none of it they assured them fatal though the outer sections of the ship had been sprayed down with some sort of decontaminate gel that would need hosing out _if_ they were ever able to land.

"Daniel Jackson."

"Teal'c, you got all of them on your side."

"Indeed, they have all been accounted for." Daniel nodded and grabbed for his radio.

"Sam, I think we've got them all."

"_I'll tell our hosts that they can start to transmat them over."_

--//

Harry watched over the sensor analysis' results from _Prometheus_, they'd been ordered to stop them here to do a full sweep of their ship, not just for the Daleks themselves but for any technology the Daleks might have left behind. They'd had orders not to tell anyone on board _Prometheus_ this fact, just to let them tag the Daleks that they'd managed to destroy.

It was Harry considered, reasonable to expect the worse from the Daleks, especially as they'd been able to transmat any number of Daleks onto the _Prometheus_.

According to the markers, 25 Daleks had been tagged and were currently being transmatted over to the _Hattah._

Sensor analysis though had found several other pieces of Dalek technology that was on board _Prometheus_, all of which would also be removed from the ship, unbeknownst to its occupants, just in case there was any monitoring equipment in amongst it. Research Base One didn't want any repeats of the last time.

--//

Samantha Carter dragged her hands through her hair, it had taken two weeks to re-patch most of the damage on _Prometheus_ in-between that she had been working on the information she had got from the Daleks.

UNIT's translation systems had been of huge assistance in it, but while there were still gaps she had made amazing progress.

Sam smiled to herself, they were going home.

--//

_Obviously this is January, and I didn't get this chapter out before it. Sorry about that._

_Probably one, maybe two more chapters to go._

_Thanks for reading._


	20. Chapter 20

--

**Chapter 20**

Jack looked out the window, Carter had done it, supposedly.

It hadn't been easy, just getting access to UNIT's translation systems was a small feat, according to their agreement they could use their translation systems as long as everything was run through UNIT's systems on the base. They'd had to go back to the table to renegotiate to use it on _Prometheus_ because according to Carter the amount of information they'd need to convert and move around, especially as it was all relating to their ship it would have been less than easy.

Jack was really glad that the SGC was in US hands, working with these UN people with their rules and negotiating, it was amazing that they got anything done around here.

They'd had to agree to giving them a copy of the data they'd grabbed from the Daleks, but the UNIT people had said that they wouldn't be doing the translating for them, because _that_ would have been helpful.

It wasn't enough that they'd transported bits and pieces off _Prometheus_, _without telling them_. 'Security Issues', Potter at least had taken him aside and explained about Dalek conditioning, something like sleeper agents and the Daleks onboard hacking their computers, or the _potential_ for hacking.

But Carter had solved it; supposedly, they were having a meeting to work out the details, they meaning his crew, without the UNIT people.

For a while now all he wanted was to be home, with beer, _Simpsons_ and his own bed. Jack vowed as the doors opened not to leave Earth again unless it was really necessary, get other people with the Ancient doohickey to go on the wild goose chases.

Jack blinked, _why oh why_ couldn't Carter explain things with pictures instead of dictionaries.

He looked over at Daniel who shrugged at him and looked into his empty coffee mug, as she was finishing her presentation.

"Sir…"

"Carter?" He replied looking up at her.

"Sir?" She looked at him, Jack looked over at Daniel, who looked back at him.

"Carter." Jack said again after Carter's upward inflection.

"It was good Sam, what exactly do we need to do, simply?" Daniel said after a moment of awkward silence.

"From what I can tell the Daleks were going to reconfigure their…"

"Carter!" Jack shouted before she could start again, whenever he heard 'reconfigure', or 'realign' or 're-consceptualise' it was always confusing.

"Yes sir?"

"Simply, simple, what do we need to do to go home, I take it from all this it isn't a cake walk."

"No sir. To replicate, in reverse the circumstances that got us to this universe I'll need to reconfigure the hyperdrive systems and tie them through the ancient device using the algorithms the Daleks were working on."

"That sounds…simple enough, where is the problem?"

"To make this work sir, we need to engage the adapted hyperspace systems while in hyperspace."

"Ours or theirs?" Daniel asked, referring to the wacky red that the UNIT people called hyperspace or the relatively soothing blue hyperspace after a hyperspace window.

"Ours, we'll need to access the hyperspace window and be within it, when we activate the adapted systems."

"Still not seeing the problem Carter."

"We can't create a hyperspace window or sustain regular hyperspace travel using this adaptive system."

"So…?" Jack looked around the room.

"We'll have to ask for a tow." Daniel suggested. Jack groaned, that meant more negotiating for another bit of assistance, he idly wondered if they'd accept a kidney.

--//

Logistically towing a spacecraft was complicated, even though _Prometheus _was smaller than the _Hattah_ it was still a nightmare.

They'd needed to send the request back to Earth, and while the response was in essence of 'just get rid of them'. It was still a complicated proposition.

While various UNIT vessels had towed small things, no one had ever considered towing a ship through a hyperspace window.

Tests had been conducted using jump gates and going through hyperspace, but the issues associated with using a hyperspace window were multiple.

Simply working out how to tow a spacecraft and then let go at the crucial moment was a feat in itself. It had never been factored into UNIT's short or even foreseeable long term plans that they might ever need to tow one of their spacecraft in the manner the SGC people wanted.

Plans were sent were come up with and computer modeled at Research Base One, other plans were made on Earth.

Further plans were made, and in the end an executive order was laid down to use any experimental methods to "get rid of them", as General Lethbridge Stewart and at least two other UNIT members in Geneva who knew about the current situations had said.

According to the budget justification, keeping the SGC craft around was costing too much money and lives.

There was also the thinly veiled suggestion from some parties that if they didn't leave with this attempt they wouldn't be getting another go.

--//

"A plant? That's what's going to hang onto the ship when we go for our hyperspace jaunt?"

"A genetically engineered species, similar to the one that was used to restrain _Prometheus._ But yes sir, they're applying the attractor to the outer hull now." Carter said looking out the window.

"A plant." Jack shook his head.

"Best you not get uptight about it Jack." Jack refused to twitch even though Carter did at the voice behind them, he'd gotten used to Potter 'appearing' at odd moment.

"Why's that Potter?"

"Let's just say your presence is…trying." He added after a moment searching for the right word.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jack turned away from the window.

Potter shrugged and walked over to the window. "I'm not privy to everything that's discussed at the upper levels of UNIT Jack. But just looking at how much stuff you've used to fix your ship."

"But we paid for that!"

"Perhaps. Maybe it was a token gesture." He replied ambiguously. "There's also the butcher's bill for your stay here." Potter let the statement hang in the air. "You'll be informed when we're ready to leave." Jack watched as Potter disappeared into a murky mist, then there was nothing in front of them.

Dammit Potter. Of course he knew how many lives were lost, he read them every time he sat down at his desk in the SGC.

Which was why he understood fully _why_ they needed to leave now, before his presence and their ship got this universe's guys killed, they had their own battles to fight, as did he.

--//

"So, time to leave." Jack sucked in a breath of the cool morning air. He'd just finished signing off on the last of the paper work with UNIT. Jack vowed to himself never to get involved with the international community. He was again thankful that the Stargate was in US hands, dealing he couldn't imagine dealing with the UN all of the time, despite how well it seemed to work here.

"Yeah, time for you to leave Jack, you're just endless trouble here." Potter commented as they walked along the path towards where _Prometheus _was sitting, waiting to take off, the attractor agent, whatever it was, was still stuck to the outer hull, Jack imagined it smelled weird, not that he could smell anything from it. It was dull yellow and looked like some sort of fungus or moss, or mould or something. _Supposedly _it wouldn't do any harm to the ship, it'd just encourage the _plant_ to grapple on and not squeeze too tightly.

According to Carter the tests UNIT had provided to them were very favourable, but it was still very experimental and in 15 percent of tests the genetically engineered plant squeezed the 'target' enough to rupture its own plant muscles or whatever the plant had, so 85 percent chance of getting home. Actually that was 85 percent chance of getting to the point of trying to get home.

"Longing for home?"

"Yeah, this has been nice Potter, but now all I want it" He was cut off by Potter who started to list off things on his fingers.

"Your own bed, ever if the view is of a concrete wall in Cheyenne Mountain, _The Simpsons_, beer that you can buy yourself in a shop, steak, and…" Harry stopped frowning as he did.

"Fishing, Potter, fishing."

"In your pond, with your friends."

"That's right Potter."

"Well maybe once I've got rid of you I can head back to Earth to see mine." Harry said as they reached the underside of _Prometheus_.

Jack looked up, he was standing underneath the rings, then he offered Potter his hand.

"It's been a wacky, weird adventure Potter." Harry took his hand.

"Not my first Jack, not your first. Still no offence if I say I hope we never see you again. We have enough enemies as it is without you bringing a whole other universe of trouble here."

"Likewise Potter, I don't want to go home and find myself with Merlin knocking on my door." He let go of Harry's hand.

"Well…we don't really know who Merlin was, there is this one bloke who said he might be Merlin, but he's pretty self righteous most of the time."

"Politician?"

"Time traveller." Said Harry simply. Jack shook his head.

"I'm not getting into this, I don't want to think about it Potter, it's worse enough we're using a beanstalk."

"To get you back to never-never land, where Pyramids are spaceships, snakes burrow into your head and people walk through rings of water." Harry replied sarcastically.

"Ah home." Jack said grabbing for his radio. "Activate rings. See ya in space Potter."

Harry watched as the rings descended with that weird noise and Jack disappeared within them, then they rose just as fast as they ascended back into the ship.

Harry couldn't fathom how the rings were useful, unless you happened upon a planet that had some installed, or a ship, they weren't really useful for landing on planets, unless you landed the ship.

Harry shook his head, he needed to keep his full focus on the matter ahead.

"Potter to _Hattah_, ready to teleport." Then the world melted away and he was back on his ship, ready to achieve the relatively complicated process of towing a spacecraft, he was sure he could hear the OH&S manuals being re-written as he walked to the bridge.

--//

Harry looked across all the screens in front of him, all sensor analysis reported the area was clear, they had a clear path ahead, and probably all the way to Earth.

"Well Harry?"

"Sensors all clear, sorcerers are reporting they're ready to activate the…" They still hadn't come up with a good name for the plant. "Beanstalk" He said after a moment remembering what Jack had called it.

"Beanstalk?" Came a muttered query from Col Rogers.

"Sorcerers report readiness to activate it, they're all strapped in and ready to go as soon as we activate the window and get in the hyperspace window."

"Good, comms, get _Prometheus_."

"_Hey guys, we ready?_"

"As we discussed General, we first need to manoeuvre into optimum position, and then let loose the…organism onto your ship. Then we'll proceed to drag your ship into a hyperspace window."

"Which is when Carter can activate the gizmos and we'll click our heels and return to Narnia where the only wizards are in Middle-earth and I can finally see the next season of _The Simpsons_."

"Uh Jack…" Said Daniel's voice away from the screen.

"Oh, right, lets do this."

"Potter?" Rogers asked in a controlled voice.

"_Prometheus _is signaling ready."

"Good."

As _Hattah _in space so it sat just above _Prometheus_ Jack looked up and realised just how much the larger ship dwarfed theirs, according to Carter it wasn't a huge amount, but it certainly made a difference.

"Sir you should sit down, when the organism begins to take hold there will probably be some turbulence."

Jack nodded, he was again sitting in the Captain's chair, _Prometheus'_ captain was still under Doctor's orders not to exert himself. Carter had it seemed cable tied or bolted bits of the Ancient gizmo to the chair, he only needed to activate it, at the right time. She'd guaranteed that it wouldn't electrocute him.

Jack eyed it, and crossed his arms across his chest rather than lay his arms on the arm rests.

"Sorcerers prompting growth of the organism."

"Let's see it."

One of the three screens at the front of the bridge switched to a low angle showing the bow of _Prometheus _and the stern of _Hattah_, slowly out of one of the rear bays of _Hattah_ thick organic tentacle like things worked their way out, slithering through the vacuum of space and winding their way around _Prometheus_' hull.

Then the whole ship shook as the tension was taken up between the two ships.

"Sorcerers report organism at full extension and strength at rated levels, sensor analysis confirms it is holding enough to tow the ship."

"Then lets do it before they change their minds. Signal _Prometheus_ our readiness."

"_Prometheus _signals ready."

"Activate hyperspace window generators."

Harry imagined a sound of groaning, in fact as the ship _lurched _into the hyperspace window he wasn't sure if he _was_ imagining it. Looking across the data that was feeding from the various areas of the ship he cringed, they were chewing through power resources at rather large rate, he knew it had all been calculated, but numbers was one thing, practical reality was another.

"Ship status Potter." Colonel Rogers ordered, his eyes fixed on the forward screens, data of their own displayed large and bold.

"Power management in flux, but within adjusted tolerances, power management are working to re-stabilise the power distribution. Organism is still locked onto _Prometheus_, sorcerers and sensor analysis are reporting degradation is within predicted tolerances."

"Signal _Prometheus _our readiness, keep communications open, we need to know the moment we can severe the connection."

--//

"Jack, we've got the go ahead from the _Hattah_."

"That's your cue Carter, spin up the FTLs, engage the bistromathic drive and lets go where no roads are needed back down the yellow brick road and we can all go for a beer at the Neptune Grand!" Jack said gesturing out across the bridge as Carter worked, having begun before he began speaking.

"Nice speech Jack." Daniel said after a moment where the only noise was the odd whine of the ship's repaired systems.

"It was most inspiring O'Neill."

"Thank you Teal'c."

"Sir, you need to place your hand firmly on the…" Carter said, but trailed off focusing on several things at once.

--//

Harry mentally shook his head at Jack's odd speeches.

Physically however he remained completely focused on the task at hand, and the worrying about of warning signals that were coming in throughout the ship. The most worrying was the sensor analysis data that was focused on the plant/organism that was holding onto _Prometheus_, since _Prometheus_ had begun its power up it seemed to be loosening the organism's hold on it far quicker than they had predicted.

"Sir, organism grapple integrity is dropping off a lot quicker than predicted."

"How long Potter?"

"No estimates sir, Sorcerers are attempting to stretch out more from it."

"_Prometheus_ status?"

--//

"Power is building, critical power mass in 20 seconds…or so." Carter shouted, the whine throughout the ship was more of a long wail. She was so far succeeding in ignoring it, hopefully it wasn't anything too important, like life support.

--//

"Sensors indicate massive power surges around _Prometheus_ sensor analysis suggest releasing _Prometheus _now sir, to prevent 'unforeseen outcomes'."

"Release the organism, lets see _Prometheus_."

On the centre screen was _Prometheus_ seemingly covered in lightning and pulsing, the tentacles of the organism still held on, not as tight as previous, but still there."

"Potter…"

"I know sir. Sorcerers are having trouble bringing it back in, it looks like the ends are dying sir."

Colonel Rogers looked at it for the briefest of moments.

"Shut the doors, realign energy cannons, shoot the plant get rid of it now." He said before muttering. "There's no way in hell that we're being pulled into their universe."

Harry didn't say anything about the risks involved in firing weapons while traveling via a hyperspace window, personally he didn't want to get stuck in a universe where they traveled through puddles of water either.

--//

"O'Neill, _Hattah_ is powering weapons." Teal'c announced with some alarm.

"Too late, here we…" Carter began to say.

--//

The whole ship shook.

"Status?"

"_Prometheus _no longer in sensor range."

"Drop us into normal space and send out a signal to ASCS _Narawntapu_. Lets makes sure we don't have one more problem for the day."

ASCS _Narawntapu_ was the ship that was tailing them, some distance back and out range of the now departed _Prometheus_.

Harry waited for several tense moments before an image of _Narawntapu_'s captain appeared on the central screen.

"Job done, they off?"

"Yes, they're gone." Colonel Rogers said, relief audible in his voice, Harry let out a breath of air he didn't realise he'd been holding.

General Jack O'Neill, Lt Col Samantha Carter, Dr Daniel Jackson, Teal'c and the countless others on board the _Prometheus_ had gone home…or at the very least left this universe.

--//

_Another long delay between chapters (sorry about that), I've been writing other things, but kept coming back to this._

_There will be another chapter!_

_Just one more._

_But there will be more stories, other things will come, more in author notes of next chapter._

_Thanks for reading._


	21. Chapter 21

---

**Chapter 21 – Epilogue**

Harry leaned back, looking out across the bay, breathing in the cool morning air.

He was home, on Earth, at his actual house, it was odd being here, it had been at least 6 months if not more since he'd last been home for more than 72 hours.

ASCS _Hattah _was landed at the Gibson Desert facility, receiving repairs and everything else it had incurred during the time that _Prometheus _had been in their universe.

After the _Prometheus_'s departure, and their subsequent _detailed_ scans of the surrounding space where they'd departed (just to make definite sure) they'd returned to Earth for debriefing and _necessary_ repairs to the ship, plus they needed to scrape what was left of the organism from the bay it was stored in and get analyzing it.

Which all up meant that he had a month leave away from the ship, as did many of the crew form the _Hattah_.

Harry intended to spend this time actually relaxing instead of getting pulled into some odd investigation in America or somewhere else.

That said he didn't want to be in the USA at the moment, according the Birmingham when he'd been into Night Wolf for a follow up debfreif, his and Jack's presence in the USA had been the tip of an even bigger iceberg in relation to UNIT, supposedly the USA wanted back into UNIT.

That's a job he didn't want. Negotiating with the USA for them to have a place in UNIT. Obviously it was something that had been going on in the background for ages.

It wasn't something he'd paid active attention to, considering where he worked and what he did, aside from his two dalliances with NCIS the UNIT / USA situation was something that went on in the background, with all its infighting and spying that went with it. There were bigger fish that wanted to bite their heads off and play their organs like a bagpipe.

Harry frowned to himself, his internal imaginings were always a bit odd when he returned to Earth and got himself resettled in Earth's gravity and with the sun overheard.

It was a different feeling whenever he was at Research Base One, a different sun, a different planet, a wholly different, yet similar feeling.

The same with being on _Hattah_ it had its familiarity, though different sensations.

As the sun moved up to the apex and the day became slightly warmer, for autumn Harry pulled himself out of his musings and returned inside, he'd be getting some guests soon.

--//

Harry looked up as the phone rang, he practically never used it, but it was a little more normal than his radio making noises, plus it was just as secure.

"Hello." Harry said as he picked up the phone. "Yes sir. Oh…but they're ok?" Harry nodded, taking the news he was given. "Thank you for calling sir."

Nothing bad at least, he thought to himself.

He was glad that he'd given himself a week leeway when it came to organising a get together with friends.

Actually organising a get together had been…complicated.

Hedwig had gone off with his blessings to go raise baby owls and do whatever it was that owls do.

Pity that he didn't have an Owl's tracking skills.

Luckily though the Burrow never moved, though it did mean 'subjecting' himself to Mrs Weasley's questions.

All of which were answered with vague answers, much to her annoyance.

But he'd managed to get a message to Ron and the others through other means.

--//

Jack hadn't really believed it when they'd given it to him.

He'd broken the ship, a few times over, spent a bunch of time in an alternate universe, _and_ got back pay for everyone on the ship for the time they'd spent in the alternate universe, even though they hadn't been gone for all that time here, something about sub-structure superstrings. As long as it wasn't time travel, that gave him a headache.

A promotion.

It was the right time to do it too.

You've got to protect your home, Potter had said that, so had that Gibbs guy at some point he recalled.

At least he didn't have half as many threats on his hands that Potter and UNIT had.

Certainly it had been something of an experience.

Even the thorough psych sessions had been worth it, though he had made sure that _Prometheus'_ jaunt to Potter's universe would be one of those things that was sealed, he didn't want anyone getting their fingers on that info. Lest the NID get their hands on it and trying to make a jump into Potter's universe. He doubted UNIT would be as forgiving as when they'd made an appearance.

Likewise all the stuff they'd used to patch up _Prometheus_ had been removed and sealed up. This hadn't been an agreement with UNIT, it had barely been mentioned, but he felt like it was the right thing to do. It might have worked in that universe, and might continue to work here.

But they didn't need tp start mucking around with stuff from over yonder. That was just as likely to bring a whole bucket load of trouble their way.

If that hadn't pissed the guys from 51, the stuff that had been on the hull of _Prometheus_ following their bull ride back to their own universe had vaporised itself, leaving according to them and Carter, no traces.

Still it meant a lengthy amount of time for _Prometheus_ to be on the ground being fixed up.

And he still got a _Promotion_.

Hank would be great for the SGC. You needed that something to be in the Mountain, in charge of the old orifice.

--//

At least he'd gotten the grass back down to a normal level, Harry thought to himself as he stripped off his grass covered clothes. It had taken him most of today and yesterday getting his house and garden to a relatively normal state. He'd for the most part forgotten, or ignored the grass and garden that was out the back of the house.

But since he was going to have visitors for a few days, he thought it best to clear up a little bit.

Back in the kitchen, his wings still dripping wet from the shower he heard a knock on the back door.

"Hey Ron."

"Harry! Long time."

Harry tried to shrug as Ron enveloped him in a bear hug.

Harry passed his friend a beer as they sat themselves down at front of the house, looking out across the bay.

"Still not going to tell me what you do Harry?" Ron looked expectantly at him.

Harry smiled at him. "Do you really want to know Ron, wouldn't that take all the mystery out of me?"

Ron shrugged. "At least I'd be able to send owls to you."

"I thought I asked you not to try."

"That's what I mean!" Ron gave a frustrated sight "It must be something pretty mysterious Harry."

"It is Ronald, very mysterious. Full of wonder and madness, of Titans stealing fire and of snakes, that bite the head and the heart."

"Shit Luna! I thought you stopped all that crazy stuff ages ago."

"And hello to you Ron." She smiled and winked over at Harry.

Harry smiled carefully at Luna. Their encounter in Venice had made some things clearer and more fuzzy and he had decided that was okay, not everyone had to be on in the black or the white, skirting the grey was fine, as long as you didn't fence sit so far as to split something.

"I think you just mixed your metaphors there Harry."

"Or I was mumbling to myself." Harry countered rising from his chair.

"Just the lips Harry."

"You two are still weird." Ron said rising as well. "I'm getting another beer. Harry?"

"In the fridge. I'm still on mine thanks."

Harry watched Ron walk into the house, in these few short years they'd all changed.

"That's time Harry."

"And haven't we had enough of that Luna."

"Your friend escaped back to his own universe I see." She said looking out across the bay.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Harry looked at her, she had a distant look to her.

"I would. Where's Hermione?"

"Where's Draco?"

"Ginny said to say sorry but she's got 'an important engagement' she'll be late, that's what mum said when I flooed in anyway." Ron shrugged his shoulders, handing a beer to Luna who stared at it for several moments.

"Well?"

"Hermione was…delayed." Harry said, which was putting it lightly, the ship she was traveling to Earth on the RSCS _Indefatigable_ had been attacked, that was all he'd been told and would be a few days late, Harry had mentally compiled a list of what could make them arrive late, but the list had run so long he'd given up. A day or so late was nothing to be concerned about.

"And what about Draco?" Harry asked. Luna shrugged.

"I left a message for him, he knows where to come and when. If he gets the message that is."

"So what made you want to call us all together Harry, you and Hermione have been away so much…" Ron left the comment hanging.

"I'm not sleeping with her Ron."

Ron choked on his beer.

"Harry!"

"What? It was the thinly veiled impression. Your mum implied it too."

"She probably also said I should settle down." Ron muttered as Harry lead them inside.

Harry nodded to the two, Luna just shrugged and followed Harry into the kitchen and began to peel some onions.

"So anyone you want to settle down with yet Ron?"

"No." He said simply.

"No? Ronald? That's very impersonal."

"Yes." Ron folded his arms, not turning red Harry noted.

"It's team policy, so say the reports." Luna said to Harry.

"Reports."

"Oh…I forgot you don't read such Earthly papers."

"I read the news, I just don't keep abreast of everything." Harry brushed away Luna's comments.

"Well, it's the _breast_ that would explain Ron's reticence to talk about his relationships."

"Oh?" Harry looked over at Ron who was slowly turning more red, the cool butchness that he'd swaggered around with was slowly evaporating.

Ron sighed. "You got more beer in the fridge?"

Harry laughed.

--//

Harry looked up from the garden bed he was weeding as Hermione appeared, courtesy obviously of the ship she'd come in on.

"You're late, who attacked?" He said accepting her luggage.

Hermione looked around curiously at him. "They're out, I sent them to go and get food" Then he added. "And drink. Ron really likes the beer."

"It's his fast metabolism, now that he's a big buff Quidditch player."

Harry raised an eyebrow to her, making her laugh.

"I can appreciate a buff body Harry Potter." She chuckled as he opened the door of the house, brushing the dirt from his hands.

"Don't we all. I'm sure you'll hear about Ron's sordid tales of Quiditch playerdom. I'll just chuck this in your room." He ran up the stairs with the case.

Hermione looked around the room, there were signs of people actually living here, an odd thing for Harry's house.

Her apartment looked the same even though in theory she spent more time on Earth than Harry, it often had a thin film of 'not lived in' whenever she returned, often there was dust, despite the efforts she went to to prevent dust coming in.

Not that dust was of concern, unless it was dust that had nano-particles of death and decay, left by an ancient civilization to trip up budding archaeologists, and land them a month in quarantine.

What fun that had been, that was the last time she breathed deeply in the air. Since then it was analysis first, then uncovering the past second when she knew that the air wasn't going to leap out of the corners of time and try to kill her.

"Hermione?" Harry drifted into view.

"Sorry Harry." Hermione dragged her hand through her short and roughly cut hair, it had at one point been neatly cut, but on the last dig she'd been on had begun to become distinctly annoying and one night, which had been for the most part twilight she'd taken a sharp knife and roughly hacked it away, some had suggested it was in a fit of rage because they couldn't find an entrance, if it was an entrance.

"Caught in my thoughts."

Harry nodded, setting the kettle on. "So who attacked you, everyone on the ship ok?"

"We took hits to the primary engines and hyperspace window generators." Hermione shrugged. "No one injured."

"So who, Daleks, Cybermen, Ancient Vampires, darkness from the dawn of time."

"When have you been attacked by vampires from space or 'darkness from the dawn of time'?" Hermione put on a deep voice for the last part.

Harry made a face. "Fine, when I meet the darkness from the dawn of time I'll tell you."

"Drahvins." Hermione replied.

"The Drahvins, the feminist society and all that?"

"It's a little more complicated than that Harry, rather fascinating from an anthropological point of view really."

"Adding another doctorate to your name Hermione?" Harry teased.

"Just adding to my skill set as you say whenever you get a chance to put your life at risk."

"What're they doing attacking us anyways, it was back in the 90s when they last tried to invade."

"Enough pondering of what female society orientated aliens are doing." Hermione clapped her hands together. Harry raised an eyebrow at her.

"Honestly, you're the one who's always telling me to relax when I get some time off. That I should 'Let go' every so often." She said as she walked over and turned the kettle off.

"Shall we walk or fly?" Harry asked.

"Let's not be ostentatious." Hermione said, taking Harry's offered arm.

"Alright we'll walk." Harry chuckled.

"That'd be silly. We'll fly."

Then she and Harry disappeared in a swirl of mist.

--//

_This chapter came from a few reviews along the way that asked for a bit more detail of Harry's life, and his friends._

_I've kept detail on what they're doing to a minimum, as I don't want to start dreaming up 'stuff' for them to be doing._

_Ginny and Draco aren't here for any actual reason, just that their interactions with Harry, Hermione and Luna weren't really part of this whole adventure, but Ron needed to be there. _

_I will however state that they're Draco and Ginny are not an item nor are Hermione and Harry. _

_Harry and Hermione are good friends they're both part of the same weird world, that's all._

_Thanks to everyone who has been reading and reviewing along the way._

_There is more to come!_

_Initially when I started this story it was going to be the last in the series for a time._

_But I've been thinking and there will be further stories, though probably not immediately._

_The next story that I'm likely to post will be another Doctor Who / Harry Potter crossover, but __**not**__ part of this universe._

_Likely to be entitled __**Visited by a Doctor,**__ which follows the books relatively closely and sees Harry meet all of the Doctors so far. Expect the first chapter of this in a week or so. (Again it'll be in the TV X-Overs category)_

_Following that will be a continuation of __**this series**__, with Harry. First will be a meeting of Harry and Martha Jones (and the Tenth Doctor), most likely this will be a couple of chapters or so._

_This will be followed by an adventure set during in the year of 'Last of the Time Lords' when Martha Jones walked the Earth. This one will be relatively short, again a couple or chapters or so._

_This will then be followed by a longer fic (which is still a vague idea), but will be set for the most part on Earth. Harry in the staring role. Torchwood will appear, as will some others who have appeared previously in this series of fics (still at the ideas stage). _

_I've also got a bunch of other fics in various stages which will probably get finished at some point, feel free to message me and I'll probably respond at length._

_Again thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed throughout this story (and my others and have followed through to this one)._


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